Cam - Centre of the Universe
by Drinking Again
Summary: A collection of one-shots all dedicated to the marvellous and occasionally somewhat evil Cam. Chapters will vary in length, rating, genre and pairings of all matches and orientations. Please feel free to request any prompts or pairings you like. Pairings not involving Cam may be included, but not focused on. Will (hopefully) be updated regularly.
1. Photographs - Angst - K plus

**Welcome to 'Cam - Centre of the Universe'. This will be a collection of one-shots, short and long, all dedicated to the wonderful and occasionally somewhat evil character of Cam. Why? Because he's my favourite. Despite starting off as a simple comic-relief geared side-character who barely even appeared in several episodes, (during which I sulked a great deal) I personally find Cam to be the most in-depth and interesting character in Mako Mermaids. Thus, this was born.**

**I'm currently taking my prompts from online prompt-lists and such, but please feel free to leave any suggestions for prompts or pairings- I'm willing to have a go at most things. Ratings will vary between chapters, and I will put warnings above all of them. Hope you enjoy reading and any and all feedback is welcomed and adored :)**

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**Prompt**: Photographs (Taken from **The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts**)

**Setting**: Canon, set post-episode 26

**Rating**: K+

**Pairings**: Loosely implied CamxNixie

**Warnings**: Angst

**Recommended Listening**: Oblivion - Bastille

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**Photographs**

The smell of the ink burning was bitter and foul, floating up in poisonous tendrils of smoke before dissipating into the air. It made Cam choke when he inhaled, but he didn't care anymore, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. He breathed in. The discomforting pain of poison on his tongue was almost welcome now.

He sat alone in his room. Another evening alone, another evening in the dark with the quiet. In the background he had his stereo on, crooning out mournful indie tunes of loss and fragile hope. He didn't hear the words coherently, but their meaning touched him in other ways, constricting his throat and dampening his eyes. His heart clenched and the flame burned. Another evening alone.

Scattered around him were the photographs. Most were pretty poorly taken; he'd never been an artist. He'd never really been anything- no, he wasn't going to feel sorry for himself again. This evening, he wasn't going to feel anything. He was going to burn his bridges, and then perhaps he'd have a chance at redemption. He didn't want forgiveness from the others, but from himself. He'd always survived on his own before, he could do it again.

Did he always have to lie to himself?

Slowly, almost reluctantly, he opened his eyes and sighed, looking down at the square of card held in his hand. Half of it had already burnt away and the edges were smouldering romantically as they enclosed around the remainder of Zac's smiling face, turning it to ash. The lighter lay in Cam's other hand, gripped loosely. Both his arms rested over his knees as he sat slumped in the corner of his room, leant against the walls.

There was nothing noble about him now, nothing powerful. No trident, no tail. No best friend, no Nixie. He'd retained only fragments of them, moments captured in photographs, his friends frozen and smiling eternally in time. And those smiles hurt him, more than anything else, because he knew that they were happy. Out in the ocean, blessed with all the wonders of the sea, all the magic of the world. Blessed with one another. And there he was, sat alone in his room, burning things.

The man on the stereo whined away, crying out his tunes so that all the world could witness his bleeding heart. Cam didn't have the energy to get up and turn it off. Instead he sat there and let it wash over him, listening to the sadness as the singer's voice cracked and broke. It almost felt good, in some unexplainable way, to give into the sensation. Relief accompanied the idea of not having to try any more, of giving up and sinking back into the music. He refused to cry.

Blinking rapidly to dry his eyes, Cam distracted himself by leaning over and searching for another picture to burn. The images that had once been tacked proudly across his walls now looked up at him in the half-light from the floor, barely visible in the moonlight. They became clearer when Cam clicked the lighter on, its feeble flame casting a soft, flickering glow across the faces of his friends.

He picked up the one taken of himself and Zac stood outside Zac's place, the pair of them posed with their arms wrapped around one another, grinning proudly. It had been taken after they'd finally unpacked the last box, Cam having come over to help Zac move into his new apartment.

After the task had been completed, they'd kicked back on Zac's new bed, laughing and joking and speaking of their plans for the summer. They'd played video games, eaten junk food and spoken ambitiously of the wonders they were going to achieve together in those two months of freedom. Back then it had been them against the world. Teenage boys with no out-of-the-ordinary worries and no magical powers save that of their own friendship. For the first time since the night they'd gone camping together, Cam wished for it to go back to those times of innocence. No dreams of power, no desire to rule. He just wanted his best friend back.

Staring numbly at Zac's triumphant, smiling face, Cam bent the flame to the corner of the photograph and watched expressionlessly as it caught alight. The paper withered and crumpled under the heat and the force of its own destruction, and with it Zac flaked away, dropping to the floor in fragments of grey and white.

Without quite realising it, Cam could feel tears staining his cheeks and, as Zac's grin disintegrated into nothing, he bent his head back against the wall and wept, his body heaving with ragged, abandoned breaths. He crunched the photo up in his hands, not caring that it burnt his skin. For the first time since his own betrayal he sobbed openly, unafraid of anyone seeing for he knew for certain that he was alone. That was the only thing he could be sure of nowadays.

Crying, unable to stop now that he'd started, Cam squeezed the ashy remains in his hand tightly and whispered in a broken, desperate voice,

"I'm sorry."


	2. Chocolate - Fluff - CamxNixie - K Plus

**Prompt**: Chocolate (Taken from my own head)

**Setting**: Canon, set just before Cam's betrayal.

**Rating**: K+

**Pairings**: CamxNixie

**Warnings**: Fluff and sadness.

**Recommended Listening**: Kiss Me - Ed Sheeran

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**Chocolate**

Cam sat at his table in the Ocean Café nursing a smoothie, staring off into the middle-distance, entirely lost in thought. It was early morning thus no one was around save him and the barkeeps, the mood quiet and contemplative.

Sat sealed away in his locker resided the Trident, its power sitting there, waiting for him. The full moon grew closer with every hour, and that very night was the one. The night he got everything he ever wanted: power, talent, a tail. Zac's chance had been and gone. It was Cam's turn now.

He was so absorbed in his own machinations that he didn't even notice Nixie wandering in, looking somewhat lost. She'd been feeling that way ever since she'd agreed to Cam's plan. Having a man in possession of the Trident set her on edge, and yet she'd decided that this really was the best way. Zac was a danger, and even though he had Lyla and the others fooled, Nixie could see through the act. It had become clear that the only person she could trust was Cam. It seemed a pretty daunting fact to realise, yet it was true.

She was wrenched out of her internal monologue when she spotted Cam himself, sat there with a straw rested between his lips, his head turned aside so that she saw him in profile. In truth, she'd never thought of him as handsome or attractive when she'd first met him. He'd just been another land boy. In that case, however, why was it that now she felt her chest tighten and her heart leap into her throat? The strength of her reaction to him unnerved her, and for a moment she considered leaving just to avoid confronting him.

She dismissed the concept, knowing that the idea of her, a talented mermaid being scared away by a simple land boy was ridiculous. And so, with her head held high she marched in confidently and took a seat at his table, just to prove that she wasn't afraid. At the noise of her chair scraping back he too was interrupted from his thoughts and he glanced over curiously to see who was joining him. Upon spotting her his usual, easy-going smile formed upon his lips, although she thought it looked somewhat weaker than usual.

She couldn't blame him. Tonight was the night of truth. They both had to pray that their plan would work and that in the morning, Zac would be a simple land boy once again. Then they could part ways and no one would have to feel bad about anything. Even so, the idea of returning to the sea and forsaking the land forever made Nixie uneasy, although she wasn't a fool like Lyla. She wouldn't let a land boy ruin her life.

"Nixie," Cam said brightly, grinning at her. "Just the fish I wanted to see."

"Zip it, Land Boy," Nixie hushed him sharply, throwing a cautious look over at David and Carly who were stood behind the bar. Fortunately they seemed occupied with something else entirely, their backs turned and their voices lowered in quick, quiet discussion.

"Oh relax. David would probably just assume it's my cute nickname for you," Cam assured her, smirking and sipping from his drink as he watched her, his gaze unfaltering. Nixie could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, and was about to snap something back when she was interrupted.

"Cam, would you come over here and give us a hand?" David called, glancing back over his shoulder at the blonde.

"Certainly," Cam said graciously, giving Nixie a parting wink before going over to help with whatever he was required for.

Seething bitterly to herself, Nixie sat back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, watching sourly as the others occupied themselves with their task. She watched on as they lifted some odd piece of machinery up onto a table beside the bar, grunting with the weight of it. She'd never seen anything like it, but it looked expensive, the metal well polished and the design attractive. She had no idea what function it served, however.

Walking over to inspect it as they set it down, she turned to Cam and asked, "What is it?"

"It's a chocolate fountain," David informed her helpfully, his usual cheerful smile lighting up his face. "People have been coming in asking for a lot of sweet things lately, so we thought it might be a good idea to get one. Of course, you and Cam are welcome to give it a test run. It's on the house."

Cam thanked him, and then they went about turning it on and setting it up. Before too long, a cascade of thick, sticky brown liquid was pouring down across the machine, flowing down three tiers before it pooled at the bottom. David thanked the two blondes for helping him, and then he and Carly disappeared into the back, apparently going to retrieve fruit to dip into it.

Left alone with Cam, Nixie felt she could brave risking making herself look stupid by asking the obvious question. "Cam," Nixie said slowly, eying the so-called 'chocolate fountain', "what's chocolate?"

"What's chocolate?" Cam repeated incredulously, staring at her, his eyebrows shooting up. "What's- Nixie, are you telling me that you don't know what chocolate is?"

"Is that a problem for you?" she retorted defensively, her arms returning to being folded across her chest as she matched his incredulous expression.

"No, no not at all. I'm just surprised, that's all," Cam said hurriedly, grinning to try and disarm her. "It's just that if a 'land person' had never heard of chocolate, well, they'd have to be a hermit. A very sad, incredibly deprived hermit."

Nixie didn't know what a hermit was exactly (did he mean the crab?) but regardless she sensed she was being insulted and so scowled back at him. "It sounds stupid anyway. And why's it in a fountain? Water works perfectly well," she muttered to herself, glaring now at the offending fountain before her.

"Oh Nixie," Cam said, smiling derisively as he looked her over, "you've no idea what you just said." Moving quickly, he moved his hand forward and two of his fingers disappeared behind the curtain of liquid chocolate. When he retrieved them, they were coated in the rich, dark fluid, which dripped down off of them onto the counter in droplets. "Would you do me the honour, Nixie, of allowing me to be the one to introduce you to chocolate?"

Scrutinising him guardedly, Nixie deliberated for a moment before complying, mirroring his actions and dipping her fingers in the chocolate. She withdrew them, and found that they too were now covered in the stuff. "Okay, now lick it," Cam instructed, watching her intently, his half-smile fixed upon his lips.

Nixie glanced up at him sceptically, but he simply nodded back in encouragement, and so she did as she was asked and put her fingers to her lips. She pressed her tongue against them, and licked off a patch of the fluid.

She had to admit, it wasn't bad.

"It's no prawns," she said stiffly, licking away the remains of the chocolate, and then sucking her fingers dry.

"It's chocolate, Nixie," Cam said, grinning broadly at her reaction. "It's better."

"It's not entirely terrible," Nixie allowed, avoiding his eyes as she looked back at the fountain. She had too much pride to ask for more.

Watching her, his eyes gauging her reaction, Cam said nothing for a moment before a wicked grin lit up his face. Nixie knew what that expression entailed, but before she could do anything he leapt forward, striking lighting fast. His fingers pressed swiftly to her face, and then within an instant he jumped back out of her reach.

"Cam!" She said furiously, looking up at him demandingly. "What was that for? What have you done?"

"See for yourself," Cam said slyly, sliding a silver serving dish up from off of the counter and turning it so that she could see her reflection.

Looking back at Nixie was her usual face, except that now, marked upon her upper-lip were two short, dark lines. "Chocolate moustache!" Cam jeered teasingly, breaking into good-natured laughter as he backed away from her again, cackling.

Caught between outrage and laughter, finding his infectious, Nixie dipped her fingers back under the fountain and then pounced on him, jabbing her fingers at whatever exposed skin she could find. He attempted to fend her off but failed to do so for laughter, his body shaking as he tried to defend himself. They wrestled amongst their giggles, and for the first time in what seemed like ages Nixie forgot all about the Trident and just laughed, her body aching with the force of it.

"Truce, truce, truce!" He begged her through his laughs, doubled over as she attacked him. Straightening, finding her work complete, Nixie harrumphed sternly and then dropped the sombre attitude, grinning. Cam's face was now a mix-match of skin and chocolate streaks, a particularly good one running across his nose.

"You, Nixie, are truly a ninja warrior in disguise," he said breathlessly, bent over on his knees as he recovered his breath. Nixie had no idea what a 'ninja' was, but she was pretty sure it was a compliment, and thus she grinned triumphantly, her hands on her hips.

"Come on," Cam said once he'd caught his breath back, straightening, "we'd better get cleaned up."

Falling back into composed silence, they avoided looking at one another as they dabbed at their own faces, pawing and licking the chocolate off of them. "You've still got some there," Cam said once his face was relatively clean, glancing over at Nixie. She ran the heel of her palm across her face, and then presented herself for inspection. "No you missed it, it's there." He gestured to his own face to show her, and she wiped her upper lip again as instructed.

"Missed again," Cam exclaimed with a grin, stepping forward. "Here, let me." He licked his thumb and then dabbed it gently to the corner of her lips, wiping away the offending chocolate stain that lay there.

Her heart stuttering in her chest at the contact, Nixie felt her breath catch in her throat as Cam touched her, her face flushing again. Her eyes met his and held them, locked there. Neither spoke for a moment, nor did Cam remove his hand, his fingers resting ever so lightly against her cheek.

"You've still got some on you," he said in a barely audible whisper, as if he were afraid that speaking would shatter the moment. "Just-" he leant in, his hand catching her jaw and he kissed her, lips meeting lips. Her head swam, the world disappeared, and for a moment Nixie forgot that she was a mermaid and that Cam was a land boy, and that the idea of her loving him was insane. What mattered was that Cam was kissing her.

"-There," Cam finished breathlessly as he broke away from her, their lips parting. He met her eyes, and for a moment she thought that he was going to say something, a heart-breaking, previously hidden sadness lingering there in his eyes. And then, just as his lips parted to form words, the noise of the freezer door opening sounded and David and Carly's voices broke the moment. Cam drew back, and Nixie was left with the feeling that she had just missed out on something that would have changed everything, although in what way she did not know.

"I ought to get going. I have lessons," Nixie said hurriedly, avoiding his eyes, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Bye," Cam said in a ghost of his usual voice, watching with that same sadness as she turned and left, out of the door before David had even drawn into view.

"Where'd Nixie go?" he asked innocently, looking about for her expectedly.

"Home," Cam said, trying out a smile that held none of his usual humour or warmth. "Back where she belongs."

His gaze lingered on the door, his chest tight, his mind no longer focused within the Café but remaining with her. Nixie was his only doubt; the one reason which meant that along with joy and determination, he felt a stabbing, wounding guilt whenever he turned his mind to the Trident. If he did this, he would lose Nixie, almost undoubtedly forever.

"It's a shame you two broke up," David said from behind him, going about setting out the boxes of fruit. "You were cute together."

_She didn't want me_, Cam thought to himself. _She didn't kiss me back_.

"I don't think we'll ever get back together I'm afraid, David," Cam said with a crooked grin, turning to face his friend, masking his true emotions seamlessly. "We're just from two entirely separate worlds."

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Outside the Café, walking her way down the pier back to mainland, Nixie had her fingers pressed to her lips. They were simultaneously numb and hypersensitive, tingling and yet they no longer felt like hers. Her heart was racing in her chest, and her ears burned like hot coals.

Slowly, cautiously, she licked her tongue along her bottom lip. She found the taste of Cam and chocolate mixed there, complimenting one another perfectly, and some hurriedly hidden part of her couldn't decide which she liked the taste of best.


	3. Kingdom - Poetry - Dark - K Plus

**Prompt**: Kingdom (Taken from **The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts**)

**Setting**: Okay, so this is whole-heartedly and unashamedly inspired by Mergana Pendragon's amazing fanfiction concept 'Prince of Mako'. The plot is that, back in the war between mermen and mermaids it was Cam, a mermaid prince, who created the Trident, an act he was henceforth banished for, sent to live out eternity as a land boy. It's definitely a ff I'd recommend checking out, and MR has full credit for the AU concept design. This is just a poem/freeverse inspired by that kick-ass idea :D

**Rating**: K+

**Pairings**: Cam x The Trident (Only joking... or am I?)

**Warnings**: Written at three am in the morning thanks to insomnia. Also, I'm no poet, it's definitely not my strong suit. I'm giving it a go anyway, apparently, because late night/early morning me seems to think that's a good idea.

Also contains graphic-ish imagery and dark themes.

**Recommended Listening**: N/A

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**Kingdom**

It was you who watched an underwater world burn in fires of your making,

People twisted beyond recognition, fighting for their lives and you their beloved prince- unseen monster.

It was you who sat unflinching in a throne, constructed on a pyre,

You struck the match to light the kindle, and smiled to god, as a god, and it burned.

It was you who fought confident, a warrior without doubt or heart,

Save that you used to love yourself and all your own, which was solely you.

It was you that let the children burn Misery disgraced,

Their mothers knelt with bleeding tongues and bleeding eyes,

Carrying on in your fight for there were others to protect.

It was you that fashioned murder into form and let the slaughter fall upon the waking sheep,

Oceans rising, waves crashing, responding to the storm known as your soul,

If it could be believed that you possessed such a thing.

It was you, sweet prince, who saw beauty in power, and were mesmerised by it,

Playing victim to your own indulgences and follies like a child.

It was you whom we remembered, in sleepless nights and waking dreams,

Feeding us danger, blood and stories that cannot be forgiven.

But we've read the legends now, we know the signs.

All mermen are the enemy, and you, forgotten, banished prince,

Only the beating fear remains, unforgotten,

Living still within our hearts.


	4. Vampire AU - CamxZac - T

**Prompt**: Vampire/Werewolf AU (Taken from **30 Day Dark Fandom / OTP Writing Challenge**)

**Setting**: Essentially Mako Mermaids canon, except instead of mermaids, it's Mako Vampires. Set in the first episode, with Zac's little drop in on the night of the full moon.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x Zac

**Warnings**: Lazy fanfiction is lazy because I'm sick *coughs pointedly*. I've spent my day off wrestling with this bad boy so I hope that despite my flu-wrapped mind it's to your liking.

Contains vaguely-rapey slash in the second half, a disappointing lack of fluff or romance (slash fluff shall be coming some day I swear) as well as a dash of language that may offend the more sensitive in the audience (The f word is used once I believe.) It's also longer than my others, stopping just shy of 4k.

Also, I will be the first to admit that Cam isn't exactly the focus of this ff, it's more balanced out across him, Zac and the girls. He'll forgive me someday, probably.

**Recommended Listening**: Time Forgotten - Brian Crain

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**Vampires in Australia**

Cradled in the dark of the night sky, the full moon bathed the cavern with its silver light, gently illuminating the three girls gathered there. The cavern itself had a circular opening in the roof, allowing a shaft of light to shine down upon the floor. Worked from a dark stone imbedded with minerals, which shimmered lustrously in the moonlight, the moon cavern was undeniably beautiful, but it was also so much more. It just so happened to be the birthplace of the vampires.

The three girls gathered there were the youngest of their coven, still having not yet reached adulthood. With their powers still untrained and their thirst still wild, untamed, they weren't allowed to join the rest of their coven for the night of full moon hunting. Instead, they were to spend the night guarding the moon cavern, enjoying the moonlight as fledglings ought to.

The night of the full moon was one of great importance for vampires. The power of moonlight is often recognised in mythology, and with vampires it is no different. The full moon was the time when vampires were at their most powerful, their senses heightened, their natural abilities enhanced, and accompanying this, their thirst intensified. It was for those reasons that fledglings were forbidden from travelling to the mainland on that night. Their lack of control could only end in tragedy.

Still, that didn't mean that the three girls didn't enjoy their evenings of moon bathing. As was tradition, they'd all dressed for the occasion, wearing gowns of black and crimson, high-collared and bejewelled with obsidian and blood-red rubies. The night of the full moon was a magical and ceremonial one, even for the fledglings, and thus along with their finery their skin was inked up with the tribal markings of their coven, strong and stark against their pale skin.

"Shouldn't we be out scouting the island?" Lyla, the tallest of the girls asked, her sharp features suiting her scowl well.

"Relax will you? It's about to start," Nixie, the sole brunette of the group drawled back lazily, her body draped back against the rock walls. She had her eyes closed, her head tilted up so that her face was soaked in the moonlight, her arms splayed at her sides as if she were being crucified.

"I just think that we should be taking our duties seriously," Lyla said somewhat snidely, still lingering back in the shadows, fidgeting nervously.

"Will you two please stop fighting?" Sirena begged, glancing between the pair of them pleadingly. "It's the night of the full moon, we should be enjoying ourselves."

The other two mumbled their apologies, and Lyla finally consented to stepping forth, joining the other two in the moonlight. Wordlessly, having preformed the act a hundred times, the girls formed a circle and joined hands. Eyes closed, their faces raised to the moonlight, they all drew breath and gasped.

It was like being shocked with electricity, an icy current shivering through their bodies. The world around them suddenly felt more real, as if they had been half asleep the whole time. Lights flashed. Senses soared. Sparks flew.

And then, out of nowhere, the human boy fell.

They heard it before they saw it, the thump and subsequent, "Oof." noise penetrating through their buzzing high. It took them a moment to stir, wincing as they tried to ignore it and put it aside. Once Nixie had cracked one eye open, however, there was no going back. She dropped the hands of the others and the circle was broken, the intense magic dying with it. Following her lead, the other girls opened their eyes to see what had stopped her, dropping their hands to their sides.

He lay there on his back, awash with silver moonlight and the scent of warm, beating blood. His dark hair and skin were made luminous by the moon, and whilst there was no denying that he was handsome, he was still one thing above all. Human.

"Oh Hecate," Lyla whispered under her breath, staring wide-eyed at the human boy before them.

"Is that…"? Sirena began, trailing off for she could not say the words, not wanting to believe them possible.

"A human," Nixie finished for her, half-snarling the term as her nostrils flared, her body bending forward into an aggressive stance.

Before any of them could react further, however, the human boy opened his eyes. He saw none of them, staring solely at the moon, and as he did so his body started to convulse. The sight was disturbing to say the least, his body shaking violently, the only part of him not moving his eyes, which remained locked solely on the moon's full circle.

The vampire girls could do nothing but step back and watch on in horror, wondering if he was going to die or worse, change. It was the primary reason they were supposed to be protecting the cavern; it was there, in the light of the full moon that the curse could be borne unto a normal human; a human boy at that.

Amongst vampire society, the only thing more highly feared than a human unearthing their secret was the possibility of vampire men returning. Where female vampires were certainly primal and sensual creatures, vampire men were animals, more beast than man. Women possessed a far greater affinity for mastering their own thirst, but when vampire men had roamed the earth their hunger had been insatiable.

A great war had been fought between the two sexes, the vampire men believing that they should vanquish and enslave humanity as livestock, whilst women had foreseen danger in the act. They did not believe that humanity was a race that could be enslaved, too impassioned with the idea of freedom as a species. Thousands had died, and in the end the men were defeated, but the loss was strongly felt.

And now, after all that, the three girls were witnessing a human boy transforming into a vampire male right before their eyes. It was an impossible nightmare, and yet there it was, the boy's body contorting as the pain and power of the process shook through him.

As he trembled, his very appearance changed. The transfiguration was subtle, but to their trained eyes, obvious. His skin took on an ashy pallor as his heart stopped and the blood drained out of his face. His features hardened, his skin losing its human softness, growing smooth and strong like marble. They'd never seen the traits of a vampire reflected in a man before, all too young to have participated in the war with the vampire men. It was not a sight they'd been hoping to see.

Eventually the full moon passed over the opening of the cavern, its light fading, and the boy fell still, his eyes rolling back in his head and then closing. "Is he dead?" Sirena asked awkwardly after a prolonged moment of silence, all the girls staring at the unmoving boy.

Just to check, Nixie kicked him. He grunted restlessly, but didn't wake, rolling over onto his side away from the brunette's foot. "Nope," Nixie said with sarcastic cheeriness. "Which means we now have a vampire boy on our hands."

"I knew we should have checked the island first!" Lyla hissed at her, her signature scowl returning to her face as she glowered stormily at Nixie.

"How were we to know that a human boy would literally just drop in on a moon session?" Nixie snapped back, matching her in her fury.

"Guys," Sirena protested nervously, coming between them and trying to prevent them from tearing one another apart. "We can't fight about this, we need to fix it!"

"Okay," Lyla said in a voice that meant she was taking charge. "We can't let the coven find out about this. We have to dump him."

"We can't just leave a newborn male vampire hanging around on the streets, Lyla!" Nixie retorted, moving past Sirena to get back in Lyla's face.

"I'm sorry, do you have a better idea?"

"Any idea would be a better idea than that."

"None of this would have happened if you'd listened to me in the first place!"

"Guys!" Sirena shouted, drawing both their attention. She'd kept it together thus far, but their bickering had overwhelmed her demure nature, and now she was pissed, an emotion that was truly terrifying to behold in her. "We need to stick together on this."

Not used to their usually so calm and sweet friend yelling at them, both Lyla and Nixie stayed deathly silent, nodding hurriedly to try and appease her. "Okay," Sirena said commandingly, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "We can put him in one of the underwater caves that lead off from here. In which case he'll either drown, or be stuck, lost there until the rest of the Coven gets back. If he really has been cursed then they're the only ones who will know what to do with him."

"Wow Sirena," Nixie said, stunned. "A murder plot? I never would have suspected you capable of such devilry."

"It's always the quiet ones," Lyla seconded, and the pair exchanged mischievous grins before wincing, spotting Sirena's glare.

"Well since you were too busy fighting, I had to state the obvious option. He's a threat to all of us and our coven." She lost her fierceness halfway through and started tearing up, her voice cracking. "I really don't want to get kicked out of the coven, guys. We might lose our home over this."

"Oh Sirena," the other two girls said apologetically, putting their arms around her and hugging her. "We're sorry."

"So…" Nixie said after a moment of hugging and trying to keep it together. "We're putting him in the water?"

"We don't have any other choice," Lyla said, giving Sirena a quick squeeze before releasing her.

All in agreement, they approached the boy, eyeing him warily. He remained unconscious, still breathing lightly in and out, his eyes shut. He looked deceptively peaceful, his lashes casting shadows across his cheeks, quiet and seemingly harmless. "On three," Nixie instructed, bending down and picking him up under his armpits. Lyla seized his ankles whilst Sirena supported his weight in the middle. "One, two, three."

Together they hauled him up off of the floor and carried him over to the pool of water that lay to the side of the cavern, which led to a network of hundreds of underwater caves. They swung him back and forth, gathering momentum with each arc until, on Nixie's count, they dropped him down into the pool. He cut the water with a splash, soaking their heels in water as he plunged beneath the surface.

Moving in unison, the three girls reached out their hands in the direction of the pool and splayed their fingers. The boy floated for a moment, and then the water around him began to bubble ominously, and with it he sunk, lower and lower until even the shadow of his body had vanished.

"Well," Lyla said when it was done, nodding to herself, "I'm glad that's over with."

"When the others get back they are going to be so mad…" Sirena mumbled nervously, hugging herself as she stared at the pool they had just submerged the boy in.

"It'll be okay, Sirena," Nixie assured her, rubbing her arm comfortingly. "He'll probably drown anyway, in which case they need never know. The change probably didn't even have time to have its full effect anyway. I mean he only dropped in half way through, he barely had any time at all."

Nodding in hopeful, perhaps delusional agreement, the three girls cast their gaze at the murky waters one last time before turning their backs, walking away to go and prepare for the return of the rest of their coven.

* * *

The next morning, Zac awoke to find his face implanted in sand, water lapping gently at his feet. Grumbling, his body feeling stiff and his throat itching painfully, he forced himself to sit up and glanced around, disorientated. He found himself to be stranded on the shore of Mako, the mainland visible on the horizon, the ocean drawing in and out around his heels.

"Oh thank god you're finally awake," a familiar voice said from further inland, the speaker's panic obvious.

Running out from the trees, traversing across the sand came Cam, his blonde hair matted and tangled as if he'd spent the entire night messing around in the forest. His brow was creased and he looked more worried than Zac had ever seen him before. "Where the hell did you get to last night?" He demanded once he'd reached the shoreline, coming to stand before Zac. His hands were on his hips and his mouth was doing that funny twist it always did whenever he was frustrated. Zac had always said that it made him look like a crazy old cat lady, so he couldn't help it when he started snickering.

"It's not funny," Cam said sternly, towering over him in an attempt to look intimidating. "I thought you'd gotten lost and died or something. I spent the whole night looking for you." His expression and tone then softened somewhat, and he grimaced down at his best friend. "I've been seriously worried."

"D'aww, you do care," Zac teased, squinting up at him and grinning. The expression froze mid-formation, however, when he felt something entirely unexpected. A fiery, aching sensation tore through his throat and he thought he felt his lungs seize up. Suddenly everything started spinning, and he grasped at his chest, feeling as though he couldn't breathe.

"Zac?" Cam asked above him, his voice sounding detached and distant to Zac's ears. "Zac? Are you alright?" Zac could feel the blonde's arm wrapping around his shoulders as Cam dropped down into a squat, inspecting him anxiously. He couldn't focus on Cam though, the burning in his throat only intensifying as something else hit him. It was like no smell he'd never registered before, hot, wet and seductive. The scent of the ocean water was almost unpleasant to him, only drying his throat further, but this new smell, whatever it was, promised him salvation from his thirst.

Turning his head, following the direction of the scent, Zac found himself face to face with Cam. His best friend was raising an eyebrow at him, smirking uneasily, donning his usual uncertain humour as he always did whenever he was faced with something that scared or intimidated him. Zac barely even registered his face or expression, however, enticed solely by the smell.

As if he were a puppy, he nuzzled forward at Cam's neck. It was there that the scent seemed to dwell, beckoning him closer. Caught entirely off guard, Cam stared at his best friend as if he'd gone mad. "Okay Zac, you're really freaking me out now," he said nervously, half-backing away as Zac nudged his nose against the side of his neck. Zac moved with him, however. His previously lethargic movements vanished as his stance became that of a predator, moving onto his hands and knees, pursuing Cam and that intoxicating scent.

Everything felt different to Zac somehow, as if he were still caught up in a dream. The world around him affected him strangely. He could hear animal cries and calls far away that normally he shouldn't be able to hear, and the sand beneath his skin felt different, coarser, each grain of sand imprinting into his hands. None of it mattered, however, only Cam and that rich, pulsating scent, which he was ever so close to claiming.

Without much warning or thought, Zac tackled Cam to the ground, pinning him down against the sand. "Zac, what the fuck?" Cam demanded breathlessly, his voice a weak whisper as he winced. Zac had always been the athletic one, the strong one, but now that strength had gone off the charts. His grip was like an iron vice, and Cam's feeble protests did nothing against the hands that pinned his arms above his head.

For a brief moment, Zac's sanity returned and he realised what he was doing, his best friend since forever caged beneath him. Blinking down at the blonde, Zac opened and closed his mouth in shock momentarily, guilt and confusion washing over him. "Cam? I'm sorry, I don't know-" Before he could finish, however, the burning ache returned tenfold, cutting off all chance of speech. Cam became The Scent once more, and the animalistic quality returned to Zac, his pupils dilating to entirely eclipse his irises.

Keeping Cam trapped against the sand like that, his wrists bound together by Zac's hand, stretched above his head, Zac bent down. His eyes lingered on Cam's neck, and as if everything were in high definition he could see the pulse of his heartbeat ticking away there. He knew that biting there would quench the thirst, and that not only would it save him, it would be heaven.

"Zac, please, what are you-" Cam began to ask desperately, but his voice cut short when his breath hitched in his throat, Zac's lips on his neck.

Zac licked along the length of his neck once, feeling Cam shiver beneath him as he did so, and smiled. Tentatively, with a gentleness that prolonged the moment as if it were foreplay, Zac pressed a kiss to the spot where Cam's pulse was clearest, his lips cold against Cam's flushed skin. Then, without having to think about it, running on some new instinctual power, Zac bit down, piercing the flesh.

His teeth extended down into the artery, getting a good grip on the neck as he locked on. Headily, like a parched alcoholic he started to gulp back the hot, sticky liquid he found there, drinking it down thoughtlessly. It sung on his tongue and in his throat, his body humming in ecstasy in response to it. The thirst took a backseat as the pleasure took over, and in a meaning of the word that he'd never understood before, he came **alive**.

The boy beneath him, from whom he was drinking, seemed equally overwhelmed, squirming in frustration against his binds. Cam's breathing was coming rapidly in short, shallow gasps and his face was flushed, his head tilted back, his eyes closed. His body moved with each breath, forwards and backwards, brushing against Zac's ever so slightly. Whatever it was that he was feeling, it certainly didn't seem to be pain.

Somewhere in the back of Zac's mind, something was screaming at him for what he was doing. _You're drinking blood_, it yelled, bewildered by what was happening. _You're drinking Cam's blood, and look what it's doing to him_. Zac opened his eyes, glancing sideways at the face that was in very close proximity to him. It certainly wasn't an expression he'd expected to see on his supposedly straight best friend.

_If you keep going_, the voice added quietly, the rest of his thoughts falling quiet to allow it the spotlight, _you're going to kill him_.

Shaking, terror setting into him like a cold damp, Zac broke his grip on Cam's neck and drew back. He stared at his best friend's face for a moment longer, registering just how strongly he'd affected him (which was obvious in an entirely other area too) and felt disgusted with himself. What the hell had just happened?

Backing away from his best friend, who he had just violated against his will, Zac rocked back onto his behind and drew his knees up into his chest, hugging them. Cam remained where he was, collapsing back against the sand, releasing a stunned exhalation of air.

They said nothing for a good while. Sitting there, clutching himself up into a tight ball as if he were afraid letting go would unleash all hell upon the rest of the world, Zac sat simmering in his own self-hatred and confusion. He had no idea what had driven him to do such a thing. Faint memories returned to him of the moon, voices, a pain like no other, but it all felt like a long forgotten dream. What he knew to be real was the fact that he'd just pounced on his best friend and done god knows what to his neck.

"Zac," Cam said quietly after the silence had stopped being awkward and had simply become fact, the rolling sea providing the only sound. "Did you just suck my blood?"

Saying nothing, horrified by just the concept, Zac averted his eyes from his best friend and waited for the anger, for the disgust. "I'll take that as a yes," Cam drawled dryly, his smirk flawlessly embodied in his tone so that Zac didn't need to look to know he was wearing it.

"So what, are you a vampire now?" Cam asked, continuing still, and finally Zac glanced over to meet his gaze. He was still lying on his back, his head twisted to the side to watch Zac, his half-smirk on his lips. For a disconcerting moment, Zac was left feeling like a child, Cam's expression far too mature and understanding for a teenage boy who was supposed to be his best friend.

How the hell he wasn't freaking out Zac would never know, but Cam had a habit of randomly surprising him like this. He could be a dramatic little bitch about the tiny things, but when his best friend turned into a vampire, apparently he'd just smile and grin. _Cam_.

"This isn't something to joke about, Cam," Zac said seriously, his brow creasing as he looked back at his best friend. His best friend who had just been pinned beneath him, his lips upon his neck, gasping.

"But Zac, Vampires in Australia," Cam said with a wry grin, one that made Zac smile subconsciously back. "What could be a better joke than that?"

* * *

That morning, sneaking away from their coven, the girls went to check on the moon cavern. Nixie volunteered as their diver and slipped into the pool, complaining bitterly about the cold. Duck-diving down beneath the water's surface, she vanished, and was gone a good half an hour before resurfacing.

"Urm, guys," she said awkwardly, bobbing up from beneath the water. Avoiding the eyes of the others, she clambered out of the pool, the other two girls walking forward to hear the final verdict. With a sheepish grin, Nixie looked up at the two of them and scratched the back of her head. "I think we might have a problem. He's gone."

* * *

**A/N: Word of explanation. Hecate (/Hekate), for those who don't know, was an ancient Greek goddess, whose Roman equivalent was Trivia. I used her as the vampires' main deity in this because in greek Mythology and more modern adaptions, she is associated/related to Empusa, Lamia and Mormo, all of whom have myths and traits that bear resemblance to vampires, so I took her to be regarded as the mother/companion of vampires in this make-shift AU. I'm not that strong on my mythology, so this may be way out, but if so, _wikipedia you have betrayed me!_**

**Thus, when Lyla said "Oh Hecate," it would have been their equivalent of saying "Oh god."**


	5. Bittersweet - Angst - CamxNixie - T

**Prompt**: Bittersweet (Taken from **The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts**)

**Setting**: Canon, set post-episode 26 (From Nixie's POV)

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x Nixie

**Warnings**: Angst & a little more raciness later on.

**Recommended Listening**: Eyes on Fire - Blue Foundation

* * *

**Bittersweet**

Every night, without fail or falter, I dream of him.

Sometimes, they are dreams of complete and total innocence. We're sitting together, out knees and shoulders touching feather-light, talking. He doesn't tell me he's sorry, because in the dream there's nothing to be sorry about. There was no betrayal, no trident. There are no humans, no mermaids, no secrets. We just sit there, side by side, talking.

Upon waking, I never remember what we said. His voice is a sound that I cannot hear, but rather feel. It washes over me like warm water, soaking into my skin, seeping right into my core. The sense of security it induces is similar to that of waking up wrapped in a duvet, the cozy cocoon of heat and comfort seeming eternal and infallible in that moment. I see his crooked half-smile, my eyes closed, and I mirror it myself, thinking that this is what bliss truly means.

Of course, with the arrival of the new day comes the reality check and so the soothing high dies away. I remember that the betrayal was real and that the dream was not.

So then there are the other dreams.

Most of the time I'm angry. We're always standing somewhere loud and noisy, although the location varies across the nights. Sometimes we're at a train station, the trains rushing past, one after another, over and over again, sucking the air currents with them and whipping our hair around our faces. Then we're in the pouring rain in the middle of a crowded street, people bustling around us, hurrying to escape the falling water, cold droplets dripping down our faces.

We're stood on Mako, the island disintegrating around us in thunderous crashes because of what he did, because in the dream we failed to stop him. It never feels like a nightmare though, the chaos welcome, making me feel like I've come home.

We stand together, amongst the stormy wind, the torrential rain, the cracking island, and I shout at him. I know the words by heart, for I scream them in my head every time I see him, wishing that public decency didn't matter so that I could put them in my mouth. And so they come to me in dreams, and amongst the turbulence around us my words are barely audible so that only he can hear.

I know he hears me, but he rarely responds. He just stands there, cradling me in his arms, taking the abuse. His face is always lined with a frown, one caught somewhere between regret and guilt. It remains the same through-out the dream, me screaming at him all the while.

And then I wake up, and I've never felt so rested in my life. I feel exhausted, as if I've just run a marathon, but after every shouting dream I feel as though some huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and finally I'm free. I breathe a sigh of relief and think that finally, it's all over. I'm done, I've had my closure.

Yet then I see him again and the anger all comes crashing back, weeding its way into my heart and curling up in my head, hissing venomous words, all to be vented during another night so that I never can forget.

Then there are the _other_ dreams, the dreams I can't even tell myself about, let alone the others. Just thinking about them makes me blush, eliciting a chill that is both hot and cold simultaneously, which dances across my skin. After those dreams I see him and turn crimson, scowling darkly to pass it off as anger rather than something he doesn't deserve me to feel for him.

The dreams- the dreams they can't be stopped. I've taken herbal remedies, sleeping tablets, some of Aunt Rita's magic potions, nothing. Nothing stops them. And so I get flushed and stammer around him, because my mind always ends up drifting back to _those_ dreams, the red ones.

A hand on my thigh.

Lips on my neck.

A kiss that says more than just _I love you_.

Touches shaped to me.

Everything colours and senses and thoughts and pulsating, beating feelings, and everything becoming _more_.

Those are the red dreams. And from those I awake awash with quivers and shakes, half terrified of the dream, half longing to go back there.

That's a lie. There's nothing 'half' about what I feel towards those dreams.

The worst part is that when I kiss him in my waking sleep, I know what he's done, what he's guilty of. I know, and I don't care. Or maybe I do care, and that's why I'm kissing him, claiming him back as mine. It's difficult to tell, nothing is coherent, everything an intangible mess, spilling over into my conscious mind with no order or sense left.

And so I'm always a jumble when I see him. I've lost touch with which sides of him are real, and which ones my racing mind fabricated in order to save my broken heart. He's become my own personal oxymoron; the boy I hate to love, and would love to hate.

I can't tell the others, not after I mocked Lyla for her infatuation with Zac, and how could I discuss something like this with Sirena? She and David are sweet. Cam and I are... well, I don't want us to be anything other than over, but apparently my subconscious disagrees. So I keep silent, and simply dream.

Seeing him, the things I know I should care about dissipate, and all I'm left with is a bittersweet tug in my heart.


	6. God, Death, & Murder - Dark - T

**Prompt**: God, Death, Murder (All taken from **The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts**)

**Setting**: A universe in which Cam takes his betrayal and ascension to being mer-king a little more... seriously. Similar to canon, but with a 'charmingly twisted' version of Cam.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x The Trident (Not even sure if I'm kidding this time)

**Warnings**: Blood, Cam being a crazy little human boy, badly timed Lord of the Rings references, and God-complexes. In all honesty I'm not a fan of this ff, but hey-ho, aiming to update this at least once every two days so *flings ff and flees*

**Recommended Listening**: The Devil Within - Digital Daggers

**N.B: Author's note at the bottom, which anyone inclined towards M rated fanfictions for Mako Mermaids may be interested in reading. **

* * *

**God, Death, & Murder**

Cam heard the stories from Nixie.

They'd sat together on the pier, on the beach, in the café, wherever, and she'd told him all about the trident, all about the slaughter. It was how she'd reasoned what she was doing, telling Cam that she didn't have any choice but to trust him. She wasn't trying to be cruel to him, she was just trying to reassure herself that betraying all those she held close was the right thing to do.

So, really, Cam was just following her lead. She'd betrayed everyone before him. She was the one who had fed him the stories.

It was the trident that had once brought an entire race of people to their knees, so to speak. Mermaids might not have knees, but they sure could be forced down into submission. It was the trident that possessed the power to allow its master to rule not only the sea, but the land too. A weapon that commanded the seas, that could summon winds of immeasurable strength, and could kill a man stone dead simply by someone willing it.

Blood had stained the ocean red. Generations had lived and died knowing only fear and chaos. Hell on earth had been witnessed and there was no escaping it or the memories.

It was the trident that stored the power. It was its master that could put it to good use.

And so really, what had Nixie expected him to do? Keep this god-like weapon stuffed away in a locker, untouched and unused? What would the Greeks have thought, were Poseidon to have hidden his Trident away and never dared touch it? What would the Earth-Shaker have been, were he to have cowered away in fear when faced with his own destructive powers?

That was the difference between a mortal and a god, or so Cam had decided. Men and gods were often the same in their appetites for blood, for lust and for material wealth. The only difference was that a god did not question the use of power, did not shy away from it. A god knew how to use what opportunities were presented to them and how to exploit them.

Maybe, perhaps, somewhere along the way Cam had lost it a bit. Adrenaline rushing through his body, coursing through his veins, he giggled. He supposed that, were someone to walk in on him, they might think him a little bit _mad_. But then what would they know? They were only mortal.

The thing was, what he'd done had been a necessary evil. It _had _to be done. If he wanted to succeed in his newfound destiny, he really didn't have a choice.

See, what they, the others, had never realised was that he was always there, watching. In their eyes he was just Cam, simple, human, helpless Cam. No powers, no desirable traits, no tail. Yet he'd always been there, trailing them about, waiting and watching. There's a lot to be said for perceptiveness.

In all his days and weeks and months of watching, Cam had realised one thing. Even if he had the Trident, locked away in his locker as promised to Nixie, they'd never let him use it. There were four of them, five if you included Mrs. Santos. Five of them, all with powers, most with those damned moon rings, and all of them would want to stop him. If he met them at sea, in the ocean or in the moon pool, he knew he could not win.

And so he'd chosen a different battleground. He would bid goodbye to his humanity the traditional way, by fighting his last battle there on land.

Initially, when he'd first realised this he'd been disgusted with himself and had very nearly abandoned all hope for his plan. Back then he'd still been human, still questioned the true value of raw, unbridled power.

Over time, however, it had eaten away at him. It hid in the little things, like Zac blaming for him for things beyond his control. Nixie rejecting him. Every time the mermaids had told him to stay out of it, as if he meant nothing at all because he wasn't one of _them_, wasn't a member of the merfolk. Each little detail had added to the contempt, built upon the growing feeling of resentment that continued to fester, turning violent.

Zac returning the trident had nearly driven him to do it there and then. The fact that he couldn't make Zac see the importance of the trident meant that in that moment he knew that he, Cam the human, was going to have to be the one to do the deed. Zac was no longer relevant.

Eventually, he couldn't see why he hadn't seized the trident at the very first opportunity presented to him. He vaguely recalled the sensation of friendship and loyalty towards Zac, and that innocent, curious interest in the mermaids. No longer, however. No longer could he remember how to experience such feelings. It felt as if his mind and heart had been reprogrammed, as if he'd changed species already. He felt as though he had the heart and mind of a god.

And so, on that evening, before the full moon came, he had fought his final battle before ascension. They'd all come so willingly, knowing that he possessed the trident. He'd told them all different things. _I think I've found something. We're all in danger. I want to give the trident back._ Whatever he had to say to make them come, and like lambs to the slaughter they had followed.

They lay around him now, his friends. Collateral damage.

Nixie, Lyla and Sirena were all sporting their tails. No water had caused the transformation this time, although fluid lay around them in thick, dark pools. Cam preferred them this way, for clothed as scantily as they were in their bikini tops and tails, their midriffs were exposed. It allowed for his handiwork to be admired on full display, the angry gashes across their stomachs contrasting nicely to their skin tone.

Zac remained human, for it seemed that death had brought with it the end to his powers. He lay face down, stabbed far too symbolically in the back so that there was a red circle staining his shirt. Whatever part remained of the old Cam, it was glad not to be able to see his face.

Zac had arrived last, entering to find his three mermaid girlfriends butchered upon the floor. Cam had allowed him enough time to take it all in before striking, moving swiftly in to ram the weapon up through his flesh, connecting with his spinal chord to paralyse him. His death had been a good one; he'd grunted upon the wound's infliction, and then fell noisily onto his face, no elegance in it. Cam had found a certain satisfaction in that fact.

Dearly beloved, they had gathered there that day in the Ocean café. With the door shut, Cam was stood amongst them, admiring his handiwork. Evening was setting in outside, the sky inky black and the air cold. In the distance, the noises of the city were fast-paced and loud, for it seemed that someone somewhere was having a jovial celebration. Cam couldn't have chosen a better time for it added an electric excitement to the air, bringing the night alive, driving his pulse faster. He stood alive and victorious, exuding life and breathing heavily, surrounded by the still and lifeless bodies of his friends. Who was helpless now?

The one thing he hadn't been expecting was the blood. Of course he'd been expecting there to be _blood,_ he wasn't an idiot like they had all presumed, but he'd never anticipated it to be so… prone to spattering. It wasn't just pooled around the corpses as all the television shows and films depicted it.

The blood had spread everywhere. It had cascaded into the air and patterned every available surface, spraying the walls, the counters, the tables, the chairs; if it existed, the blood had touched it. Cam had streaks of it lining his face, one intersecting with his lips so that if he sucked on them gently a rustic tang would fill his mouth. It stained his hands, his clothes, and it drenched his hair, dying his blonde locks a gaudy orange-red.

Oh, but this was how it was meant to be. His first sacrifice to his new one true god; himself.

He giggled again. It felt good- no, it felt better than good. It was sensational, his body, mind and soul all in total ecstasy as the hormones in his blood gave him a natural chemical high.

Clutched in his hand was the murder weapon itself, its three prongs coated with blood, and flesh too where it had caught on the spikes. The trident, wetted with its very first victory. It hadn't required powers or a tail, just the basic human ability to spill blood and end life, humanity's most ferocious instinct.

Looking around at his fallen past companions, Cam smiled, slowly but with truly satisfied, deep-set malice. Now no one stood in his way.

Now, he would rule, not as a king, but as a god. One merman to rule them all.

* * *

**A/N: My first attempt at a psycho-orientated fanfiction, so apologies if it wasn't really your thing.**

**On another note, which admittedly makes Cam seem a little less like the centre of the universe, I'm intending on starting another one-shot collection to run along side this. This collection will be for M rated fanfiction, since I want to keep this collection's rating at T and under. Unlike this one, however, this new collection shall not be solely Cam-centric. **

**I will be doing a one-shot M rated fanfiction for each of the seven deadly sins,** _Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride._ **If anyone has any pairings they would like done under a certain sin, or just written in general, please pm me or say so in a review. They can include Cam, or be entirely Cam-free. Any orientation or even number of people involved is fine. **

**As always, any feedback or commentary on this collection of madness will be cherished and adored :)**


	7. Fallen Angel AU - CamxNixie - T - Part 1

**Prompt**: Fallen Angel AU - Part 1 (Taken from **30 Day Dark Fandom / OTP Writing Challenge**)

**Setting**: Canon, except instead of being Zac's childhood best friend, Cam is an angel banished from heaven for his deviant, humorous behaviour, and who falls victim to the charms of a self-confident human/mermaid girl.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x Nixie

**Warnings**: Contains Cam being a cocky angel who falls for a resentful human, an overabundance of sass, and maybe some swearing, I'm not sure. Split into two halves because I wanted to get this finished today, but have ingested too much alcohol to write the rest of it sanely. Hopefully this first half is enough to keep you wanting and waiting for the second :)

**Recommended Listening**: Freedom - Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton (From the Django Unchained Official Soundtrack) - Trust me, this makes this ff so much better to read. This was edited to the film, and damn it just adds something. Nothing more satisfying than finding the perfect song for a ff :)

* * *

**Fallen Angel AU**

There are those who walk the path they are destined to, and then there are those who walk the one they chose. Cam? Cam was the latter, but for all the wrong reasons.

It all started up in heaven, when his attitude pissed off a whole host of angels. Apparently they didn't appreciate him talking back to his seniors, or playing pranks on his juniors, and as for his co-workers, they were sick of him cutting corners and slacking whilst they did all the work. Considering he was an angel, he hadn't been behaving in a very angelic manner.

Normally a bit of light deviant behaviour would be pardoned up in the land behind the big pearly gates, but Cam was under special surveillance. During his last mission down on earth, he'd ignited quite a few heavenly tempers by breeching the invisibility rule. He'd allowed a human to see him, and not only that but he'd talked to them. He found that humans made much better company than the frigidly stern angels he had to work with.

Combining his troublemaking upstairs and his flagrant disregard for the rules downstairs on earth, it was not surprising that he was brought before the Archangel Council. They were a grouping of seven, although within them there were 'The Big Three': Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They sat in identical thrones at the head of the Council hall, another two angels seated on each side, positioned in smaller but equally decorative thrones.

Escorted to the hall by two large, muscular angels, Cam was pushed into the room and the doors were shut behind him. "Angel Cam," Archangel Michael called out to him, gesturing for him to come forward, sat in the central throne, Gabriel and Raphael seated either side of him. All three looked equally refined, clothed in regal robes of white and silver, their hair bound back in elegant, formal styles. Michael, however, was the obvious leader, something about his square jaw, dark, serious eyes and muscle-bound body exuding unspoken authority, quelling even Cam into silence.

Trotting up before them obediently, Cam clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head respectfully. He might be a rebel by nature, but that didn't mean he was stupid; even he knew not to mess with the Archangels. Not if he planned on keeping his wings.

"You have demonstrated a repeated lack of respect for our way of life, Cam," Michael said, his voice sounding bored without being nasal, patronising him in a manner that inspired shame rather than resentment.

"Your trick with Angel Castiel was a step too far, we're afraid," Raphael said, his voice sharper, angry.

Gabriel countered with the good cop act. "You're hurting a lot of people like this, Cam. Surely you understand that we have to do something," Gabriel said gently, smiling warmly. He was petite with a childish face, unlike his brethren, but Cam had seen him in action. He could cut and gut a demon in two seconds flat. The sweet act was exactly that, an act.

"I've already apologised to Angel Castiel," Cam said, trying to keep his tone and manner polite. "It won't happen again."

"Yes, but it's happened before, hasn't it?" Michael said with a sigh, folding his hands in his lap.

"And we've no doubt that if we leave you like this, it will happen again," Raphael added, his narrowed eyes fixed on Cam. His scowl then turned up into a sly, satisfied smile and he raised his eyebrows. "So we're going to give you a lesson in humility."

"You're being sentenced to a karma contract on earth," Michael announced, interrupting some snide comment that Raphael was moving to say. Cam would have given Raphael a mocking smirk, were his face not frozen stiff by what Michael had just said.

"A karma contract?" He repeated. "A karma contract? Those are what you give to criminals, not pranksters!" His voice began to rise in volume, and he knew that were he to have any chance of escaping this he ought to lower it. His temper got the best of him though. "What, are you taking my wings too? Why don't you just fell me now and skip the foreplay?" He shouted, his face flushing in a mix of anger and humiliation.

"We're not taking your wings, Cam," Michael said with another strained sigh, beginning to show his own irritation.

"Not yet anyway," Raphael said, still smirking as he scrutinized the angel before him.

"You're just going to be blending in with the humans, not becoming one of them," Gabriel assured him further with another cute smile, which was complete with dimples in his cheeks.

"How large is the contract?" Cam asked cautiously, reigning in his temper to keep his voice calm and civil.

"Fifty deeds," Michael answered. "That's half the shortest criminal sentence. We respect that this is only a caution for your behaviour, not a criminal charge."

"Fifty deeds could still take years," Cam complained in a groan, running a hand back through his hair in frustration.

"Well, you'll have to practice being very angelic then, won't you?" Raphael said frostily, his smirk twisting up into a condescending smile.

With that, Cam was given his sentence, dismissed and then sent over to the Globe Room. That was where the overall observation of the earth was carried out, and also where from any angel could be teleported to any place at any time. Angels of all ranks and ages were gathered there, milling about in their elegant white robes, carrying out their duties.

The two bulky escort angels had returned to Cam's side, and they helped guide him over to the transportation deck. It looked welcoming enough, a simple circular platform constructed from a gold material, upon which he had to stand whilst everyone else worked their magic. The problem was that he'd never known just how much he loved heaven until he found it being taken away from him. He found himself overcome by a pang of heartache as he looked around at the cool, composed bustle of angelkind, and he could not imagine leaving them for anything.

"Come on Elijah, you know me. You know this isn't necessary. Surely you could talk to someone," Cam tried to reason with his attending teleportation officer. He knew Elijah to be a good-natured kid, young and inexperienced, but unfortunately that didn't make him naïve. He was sharp as a whip and had a deep perceptiveness that quickly saw through Cam's play.

"Sorry Cam, you've got your orders, we've got ours," Elijah apologised with a brief half-smile as he went over to the equipment beside the platform, turning the dials and switches this way and that. It was the kind of thing that Cam had never taken interest in before, but along with his sudden desperate love of his home, he was discovering that he wished he'd done so much more. Suddenly learning how to teleport people sounded fascinating. That was the sort of thing earth failed to offer.

"All you've got to do is fifty good deeds Cam," Elijah said more gently, clearly trying to comfort him. "You'll manage it in no time. I know you like playing tricks, but that doesn't mean you can't play nice."

"Playing nice is no fun," Cam muttered sourly through a pout, avoiding looking at Elijah as he spoke, knowing he was letting the younger angel's expectations down.

"This isn't meant to be fun Cam. You nearly got Castiel killed with your last piece of fun, remember?" Elijah reminded him with a previously hidden malice in his voice.

Falling silent, the pair ended their conversation there. Cam had already had his fair share of insults from the other angels, and he wasn't eager to acquire any more.

Once all the equipment was calibrated, Elijah stiffly informed Cam to keep still and relax. "Where are you sending me?" Cam asked awkwardly, avoiding the other angel's gaze.

"Australia," Elijah answered with equal discomfort, although he softened upon continuing. "I figured that sun and sand was your sort of thing."

"You guessed right. Thanks, Elijah," Cam said softly, giving him a wan smile before straightening and holding himself still, keeping his head facing centre forward.

"Here we go then," Elijah warned him, twisting a key in the control panel and igniting the process. Closing his eyes, Cam was overcome by a rushing wave of blissfully dizzying heat that seeped in through his muscles, easing them. His mind became disconnected from his body, only half-aware of it as he drowned in the warm, seductive glow that had enclosed him, sinking deeper and deeper and-

He opened his eyes to find himself stood on the shore of a crowded beach, the cool sting of the sea air biting his face and pulling him out of his temporary serenity. Children dotted the ocean in their multicoloured swimsuits whilst adults lounged on the sand, stretched out upon their towels. Out on the horizon the shaping of a volcanic island could be seen, oddly inviting. The buzz of conversation on the beach was drowned out by the squeals and shrieks of the young, and laughter rippled through the air as if it were infectious. Despite it all, however, Cam couldn't help but feel as though he had lost everything. He wasn't just here on a mission, able to return at anytime. He was stuck.

Fifty deeds sounded like an age's worth, and in the end Cam found himself bumming around in a café, sulking. It being the height of summer, the Ocean Café was overflowing with humans trying to quench their thirst, the sweltering heat inescapable. It seemed that the noise of human life was equally unavoidable, and Cam was convinced that his headache was going to kill him before he even got one good deed under his belt.

His mind had been on anything but romance when _the girl_ came and sat at his table. There were no other seats free in the café, all the other tables filled, and so the chair positioned opposite Cam had been a hot commodity. With her drink ordered, the girl had spotted it and grabbed it in a heartbeat, less concerned with social propriety than most.

Staring at her incredulously, hoping his violated expression would scare her off, Cam met her eyes and said nothing, trying to will her to leave. Meeting his gaze unflinchingly, the girl simply scowled at him and then reclined back into her chair, lounging casually. She groaned shamelessly as she eased off her shoes and slumped back against her chair, stretching herself out like a cat settling itself down for a nap.

Pursing his lips, Cam refused to be the first to speak and crossed his arms over his chest, slipping further down into his sour mood. Unconcerned by his attitude, the girl waited patiently for her order and then lit up in delight when a lobster was delivered to their table, accompanied by a frothing strawberry milkshake.

With great gusto she dug in, devouring the lobster with a complete lack of propriety. Both amazed and appalled by her absence of manners, Cam watched on, struggling to remember to keep his mouth shut as she tore through the huge meal before her.

She noticed him watching, and after he refused to look away even after she'd glared at him, she set the poor, demolished sea creature down and swallowed. "Is there a problem?" She demanded confidently, no embarrassment showing in her voice. Cam barely heard her, still stunned from her display of unbridled gluttony. Eventually, however, he managed to compose himself well enough to speak.

"No, I'm just unused to witnessing such… unusual eating habits."

"Well, to each their own," the girl dismissed him with a casual shrug, tucking back into her meal. There was something almost hypnotic about the complete lack of inhibition she displayed as she polished off the lobster, finishing it in less than five minutes.

"What's your name?" Cam asked as the girl sipped at her smoothie, the finished lobster pushed aside. Glancing up at him, she examined Cam with piercing blue eyes for a moment before deciding to answer.

"Nixie," she informed him nonchalantly, keeping her lips around the straw as she spoke. "You?"

"Cam."

"Cool," Nixie said casually, shrugging disinterestedly as she returned to sipping her smoothie. She seemed so self-contained, so self-confident, that Cam couldn't help being taken with her.

"Hey Nixie," he said, leaning in across the table, a slow, sultry grin spreading across his lips, "do you happen to have any good deeds that need doing?"


	8. Fallen Angel AU - CamxNixie - T - Part 2

**Prompt**: Fallen Angel AU - Part 2 (Taken from **30 Day Dark Fandom / OTP Writing Challenge**)

**Setting**: Canon, except instead of being Zac's childhood best friend, Cam is an angel banished from heaven for his deviant, humorous behaviour, and who falls victim to the charms of a self-confident human/mermaid girl.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x Nixie

**Warnings**: Contains Cam having a dilemma, cliches, and Nixie being too observant for Cam's liking.

**Recommended Listening**: Strange and Beautiful (I'll put a spell on you) - Aqualung

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**Fallen Angel AU (Part 2)**

When humans fall in love, they often deem their object of affection to be an angel. Cam thought quite the opposite. Nixie was nothing like an angel; she was so much more.

Angels, as far as he had learned from his vast experience of them, were rigid, wooden creatures that followed strict rules and maintained a constant sense of self-righteousness. They were snobbishly dignified, haughty and possessed by a vigilant need to be _good_. As far as Cam was concerned, they were hell to be around.

Nixie lacked all of those qualities. She couldn't care less about the opinions of others, using her own gut instinct to decide her morals. She was brash without being obnoxious, blunt and to the point without being intentionally cruel. True, she'd taken a little getting used to, but by now Cam knew what to expect with her. More than that, he craved it, needing her company more than he'd ever have thought possible.

She'd been cautious around him at first, which was probably sensible. He appeared as a teenage male that no one around town had ever met before, and out of the blue he had taken up a sudden interest in her. Whilst others probably would have filed a restraining order, however, Nixie had let it play out, curious to find out what Cam's angle was. In the end, there was no angle. Cam was simply and openly whole-heartedly fascinated.

He trailed her round when she visited the café, chatting idly to her just to hear her reactions. They were always bold, framed by sass and wit. Her intelligence was obvious, but she wasn't arrogant about it. There was an underlying humbleness about her that kept her sober, making her unassuming and kind despite her dark humour.

Cam loved to listen to her, no matter what topic she was discussing, just to feel her voice. Her words went beyond speech and communication, imprinting upon him a warmth that was more than skin-deep. It sounded stupid, and at time it made him feel stupid when he was left there tongue-tied with his heart in his mouth, but it was the basic truth. She affected him.

Eventually Nixie became accustomed to his company, and after a while she even started to seek him out. As a homeless angel banished from heaven, he didn't exactly have anywhere important to be, thus she learnt to rely on him whenever she needed someone. He was more than happy to oblige, secretly touched by her coming to him, although outwardly he would always playfully tease her about it.

They began to spend their evenings together, in a location that became known as their 'spot'. It was a secluded area concealed behind a bank of rocks, located on a deserted section of beach. The only way to access it was to carefully clamber down a temperamental and narrow passageway on the coastline, and to then scale up across the rock pile. From there it was simply a matter of navigating their way across the rocks until they dropped down onto the untainted sand. It was the sort of place where you had to know it existed in order to reach it, and thus it guaranteed them the security of solitude.

At sunset, Cam began to doubt heaven to be the most beautiful place in creation. The burnt ambers and fiery reds of sunset were like something out of a painting when viewed from the beach, Mako island the only blemish on the horizon, acting as a contrast to the vibrant colours. The evening air was always relaxingly cool, and the area was enclosed by rocky banking, preventing any rogue breezes from spoiling the mood.

Cam and Nixie would sit together on the shore every evening, looking out across the sunset, talking quietly amongst themselves. It was during those serene evenings that the good-natured insults and banter would step aside to make way for some more genuine heart-to-hearts, Nixie made comfortable by the isolation and Cam sedated by the gentle atmosphere. It was during those evenings that Cam knew he loved her.

"Are you alright Cam?" She asked him one evening, squinting out at the light of the setting sun, her brown hair brushing across her face in lazy strands. When he gave no immediate answer, she pursed her lips and glanced over at him, her brow furrowing as she scrutinised him analytically.

Smirking on automatic, fidgeting uncomfortably under the close inspection, Cam shrugged and leant back on his hands, trying to act casual. "Sure I am. Why?" He asked, looking back at her. Once his eyes met hers though she glanced away, returning her gaze to the ocean. Her lips pressed together tightly, and she took a moment to answer.

"I don't know," she said, although the reluctance in her tone betrayed the lie. "Sometimes you just seem kind of… lonely."

Snickering, although his insides felt as if they'd suddenly grown very cold, Cam shook his head and leant forward on his crossed legs. He too looked out at the ocean when he spoke, "Well that's stupid. Why would you think that?"

Saying nothing, Nixie turned to face him, and Cam wasn't sure what should cause him more heartbreak, her pained expression or the fact that he could never have her. Her eyes searched him without reserve or contempt, and for the first time in his life Cam felt as though someone might genuinely care about him.

He couldn't speak for a moment, his throat constricted. "I guess I am, sometimes. Isn't everyone?" He tried to joke, forcing a crooked smile onto his lips but once again Nixie didn't buy it, effortlessly seeing through his guise.

"You don't just seem lonely sometimes, Cam. With you it's constant." She fidgeted, rubbing her arms with her hands awkwardly. "I mean sure you're funny and warm you smile a lot but," she hesitated momentarily, glancing at him to reinforce her courage, "you always seem so sad."

Sighing lethargically, Cam knew then that she'd seen into him far too deeply. He'd always assumed that he'd been the perceptive one, the guardian angel who watched loyally over her shoulder. As she looked at him now though, he could tell that she'd seen far more than he'd believed. She'd been watching too.

"I lost something Nixie, something important, and I won't get it back for a long time," he told her thickly, trying his hardest not to let his voice crack. He'd kept it together ever since he was kicked out of heaven three months ago, but with those soulful, sympathetic blue eyes fixed upon him, he wasn't sure he could keep that up.

"You know what the most painful part is?" He asked rhetorically, speaking quietly so that she couldn't hear him tremble. "I may end up never getting it back."

"Why not?" She asked gently, matching his hushed tone. He hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Because there's something else, something I think I want more. But I can't have both."

Nixie did not know that Cam was, in fact, a literal angel. Cam knew that Nixie was, in fact, a literal mermaid, but somehow trading species secrets had never felt appropriate to him. He was after all trying to stick to the rules during his stay on earth, not wanting to risk extending it. Despite that, however, he was breaking one of the most important and well-known rules in the book. Don't fall in love with mortals.

Even up in heaven it was a cliché. Angel meets mortal; Angel falls for mortal, quite literally. To love a mortal was to eternally give up your wings, no chance of going back. To love a mortal was to become one. To love a mortal was to give up on ever-lasting life, to turn your back on your duties and life purpose, all in the pursuit of one beating, fragile, heart-wrenching emotion. Love.

Even with a complete understanding of all these things, however, Cam was beginning to lose sight of his initial purpose. The need to return to heaven, to the responsibilities he shirked and the people who despised him was beginning to seem less and less appealing. A life of sitting on the beach at sunset with Nixie sounded like the only kind of life worth living.

Yet he was no human. He'd been born an angel, and it was the only life he'd ever known. As an angel, he had no need for food or water, no sense of cold or physical discomfort. He didn't experience pain or need in the same way, and so for those three months he'd managed to survive. Were he to lose those benefits, however, he'd doubtlessly end up dead within a matter of days. He was born to be an angel.

Nobody up in the palace above the clouds could do anything about his bleeding heart until he made the first move, however. For the moment, he could simply wait and watch her, gazing in through the metaphorical frosted windows at the girl he could never have. Her laughter, her wit, her unexpected and unrivalled concern, all of them were things he was not allowed. A kiss was well out of bounds.

All in all, the situation seemed pathetically hopeless.

In the end, it was Nixie herself who took matters into her own hands. All around her, her mermaid friends were falling hopelessly and desperately in love. Sirena and David had been a couple for a while, but recently they'd started becoming obviously serious. As for Lyla and Zac, they'd been uncertain frenemies one minute, passionately in love the next. Nixie had realised that she was being left behind, and that finally, there was nothing holding her back. If they could all break the rules and fall for a land boy, why couldn't she?

She invited Cam down to their usual spot on the beach early one morning, when the air was freezing cold and Cam's breath rose in plumes of misty vapour. He clambered over the rocks as usual, and then dropped down onto the sand and straightened. As promised, she was there waiting for him, stood just before the shoreline, the rolling waves threatening to make contact and turn her, but never quite managing it.

"What's up Nixie?" Cam greeted her jovially, putting on his best cool, cheerful smile, even though his heart was drumming double time in his chest. It was getting more and more difficult to be around her as he forgot why he loved heaven piece by piece, and only ever saw more reasons to stay on earth in Nixie. He knew he couldn't though, knew he shouldn't-

"Cam," Nixie said quietly when he stood beside her, her voice so fragile that for an moment Cam thought she might be crying. He stepped forward, getting a better look at her turned face, and found instead that she was smiling from ear to ear. Gone were the defensive scowl and sarcasm, replaced by a vulnerability that was almost naive, although Cam knew her to be anything but.

Her smile softening, Nixie turned and took his hands in hers, clasping them tightly. "I'm sorry I got you up so early. I didn't really know how to do this," she apologised, laughing nervously as she ducked her head, her cheeks flaring. She was blushing, smiling, and holding his hands. The explanation was obvious. Cam knew why she'd asked him down there, what she wanted to say.

"Don't," Cam said in a ghost of a whisper, all at once terrified. He hadn't expected this all to happen so soon, to happen _now_. His fear must have shown in his voice, for Nixie looked up at him with a drop in her smile, trying to work out what had gone wrong.

Frowning, she loosened her grip on his hands and then dropped them. "Cam?" She said, taking a step back from him. "Why are you-" she cut her own question off, shaking her head, looking angry with herself as she clenched her fists at her side. "Never mind. I was being stupid."

He was sure that she would start crying, but when she braved looking up at his eyes her frown relaxed and she seemed calmed by what she saw there. Straightening, she inhaled slowly to fortify herself and then looked him straight in the eyes. "I just wanted to say that I like you, Cam. Actually, that's a lie. I love you. I love you and your ridiculous goofy smile, your terrible jokes, and the fact that you're always there."

Once she'd finished, she nodded to herself assertively and then dropped her eyes. "If you don't feel the same way, fine, I can deal with that. I just wanted to-" She was cut off, however, by Cam kissing her.

Certainly, his head was screaming at him about the fact that now there was no denying it, and any time now he would lose his wings. _They're all going to see, and you're never going to be able to go back now. You've fallen_. But whilst his head threw a tantrum, the rest of him didn't care. She'd said that she loved him, in true, stubborn Nixie fashion, even after she thought that he'd said no. She was worth losing everything for.

He kissed her, lips to lips, and then took her gently in his arms, cupping her neck with gentle hands. He could feel a warmth start to spread through him, a glowing, overwhelming heat that he'd felt many times before, but he ignored it, pushing it away to snatch a few more moments. "Nixie," he said, breaking apart, unable to help smiling as he said her name and looked at her, the kiss still singing on his lips. "I love you too. And I'll be back for you. I promise."

She didn't have time to ask him what he meant, however, for as the warmth started to pull him away, he dived in, stealing one last kiss. And then, in a burst of light that lasted for only a fraction of a second, he vanished.


	9. Fallen Angel AU - CamxNixie - T - Part 3

Apologies for the mis-upload for anyone who went to this and found a chapter from my other story up. I'm part stupid, forgive me.

**Prompt**: Fallen Angel AU - Part 3 (Taken from **30 Day Dark Fandom / OTP Writing Challenge**) As sort of requested by quote-unquote, 'A fan', who I hope enjoys this.

**Setting**: Canon, except instead of being Zac's childhood best friend, Cam is an angel banished from heaven for his deviant, humorous behaviour, and who falls victim to the charms of a self-confident human/mermaid girl.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x Nixie

**Warnings**: I had no intention for this to be continued, but since someone expressed interest in it I thought I'd give it a go. So much for only doing one-shots eh?

Regardless of its origins, this story is my attempt to kick my uncreative-ass into functioning and to actually write something. Admittedly this has been written at 1am in the morning (the only time I have free time nowadays apparently). Additionally, I apologise for not having updated this in a while. Exams coupled with my favourite collection of prompts being taken down has successfully killed most of my creative spirit. Still, I'm trying to bludgeon it back into working, so here goes nothing!

Contains more of the angel world, Archangels being moody, Cam being surprisingly well-behaved, and even more cheese than the last chapter.

**Recommended Listening**: Nightcall - Kavinsky (ft. Lovefoxxx)

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**Fallen Angel AU (Part 3)**

"Fifty deeds Cam."

"I know."

"Fifty deeds. All you had to do was fifty goddamn good deeds and all this would be over with. How could you be so stupid?"

"I know. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter a jot that you're sorry Cam," Elijah snapped sharply before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. "And worse, you know that."

The pair of angels were stood together in the Globe Room, just as they had been when Cam had been sentenced to earth, only this time there was one very noticeable difference. All around them the rest of angelkind had fallen still, deathly quiet and acutely attentive, every one of them listening in, waiting. All of them, waiting to find out if the rumours were true.

"You fell in love with a human," Elijah said with undisguised disbelief, staring at his own hands as if they could somehow explain the mess with which he was now faced.

Rather uncharacteristically, Cam remained silent, making no jokes or inappropriate comments. He'd known what the consequences of his actions would be when he'd kissed Nixie, and now he would face them without resentment. He had chosen his path.

"I have to take you to the Council Hall. I'm hoping that I won't have to ask anyone to assist me in that, and that you will come willingly?" Elijah asked of him.

"I will," Cam answered curtly, bowing his head and clasping his hands before him non-threateningly. He didn't want any additional trouble. There was no sense in giving the Archangels any extra fuel with which to punish him; such a thing might jeopardise the possibility of him returning to earth. All angels knew that there were sentences far worse than simply being exiled. Cam was in no mood to see whether or not_ those_ rumours were true.

"Good," Elijah said shortly, glad for that one piece of control in the chaos. With grey eyes that showed the hurt and confusion he was feeling, he watched Cam with a sense of numb shell-shock, before nodding his head and mumbling to himself under his breath, "Right." He then turned on his heel and began the walk over to the Council Hall, Cam falling into step behind him with perfect obedience.

As they walked the corridors of the Palace, all eyes fell upon them, itching to get a good look at the mortal lover; The unfortunate angel who was to be holy no more, only a few hundred metres away from losing his wings. Cam was only mildly surprised to find that, after all of his worrying, he didn't actually care. He just wanted to get all of this over and done with so that he could return to Nixie and leave his past as an angel behind.

Entering the Council Hall, all seven of the Archangels were present. Raphael, however, was no longer seated in his throne, instead marching back and forth across the steps that led up to the Council's seats. Gabriel too was out of his chair, standing awkwardly at the top of the steps. He watched his pacing brethren with a look of concern, hugging his own arms tightly to his body. There was a definite tension in the room before anyone had even dared to speak, and it did not surprise Cam when Elijah chose to leave, silently excusing himself.

"Cam," Michael said in his low, clear voice that carried faultlessly across the hall. The title of 'Angel' had already been dropped then. Cam supposed that was only to be expected. "Step forward please."

As Cam walked down across the length of the hall, drawing closer, Raphael ceased his pacing, turning to face him. Even at that distance, Cam could see the flash of anger in his eyes, the tight strain around his thinned lips and the furrowing of his brow. He did not look like an angel any wise man would cross. In all honesty, Cam had never known he'd cared so much. The old Cam would have made some witty comment about how touched he was by Raphael's concern, but this time he kept quiet. No need to provoke him any further.

"Would you care to tell the Council exactly what you think you have been doing?" Michael asked, his deep drawl more strained than usual. He was the only one of The Big Three still seated, and he was leant almost casually on one of the throne arms. The only betrayal of his distress was that which showed in his voice, and the almost undetectable way in which the corner of his mouth twitched every so often. It seemed that Cam had successfully managed to piss them all off, big time.

"Council, I accept full responsibility for my actions, and acknowledge the punishment that accompanies them. I understand-"

"Clearly, you understand nothing. Nor do you understand how much danger you have put our entire society in!" Raphael cut across him in what could only be described as a shout. It wasn't very noble or Archangel-like, but it was undoubtedly terrifying to witness such a powerful individual become so irate, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. It took Cam a few moments to compose himself before he spoke again.

"I do, and I apologise whole-heartedly for any risk I may have put the Angels in," Cam said quietly, respectfully keeping his eyes down on the floor. "I assure you that my actions were not intended to cause harm, nor were they done as a joke or as a prank. Rather, I acted on my own genuine emotions."

"You can't love her Cam," Gabriel said quietly, still stood motionlessly on the step, hugging himself. "Many an angel has thought that they loved a mortal, or at the very least that they _desired_ one. Those that fall for the mortal quickly realise their mistake, however, and only ever end up resenting their supposed beloved. We are not the same as humans, Cam, even after we lose our wings. We're not meant to be together."

"Yeah, well, I'm not so sure I was ever meant to be an Angel," Cam replied with a small smirk that was cynical rather than mocking. "Let's be honest, I've never really fitted in up here; never demonstrated very _angelic behaviour_. I've always had a penchant for trouble, for more human weaknesses. If I hadn't been born with wings, no one would question the idea that I was meant to be down there with the rest of them."

"Everyone has their vices," Gabriel countered; his voice soft and gentle, the polar opposite of Raphael.

"Some more than others," Raphael muttered not so quietly, still glaring at Cam.

"Regardless of whether or not Cam has made the right decision, he has made it none the less," Michael said firmly, interrupting their bickering. "You say that you understand the consequences of your actions, Cam?"

"I do," Cam confirmed, bowing his head once more.

"Then I hereby sentence you to be stripped of your wings, of all the privileges of your status as an Angel, of all ranking, and of eternal life. You shall know pain, you shall know was it is to need, and you shall experience time as a human, ageing as they age. You are hereby permanently exiled from Angel society, and will from this day forth be no different from all other human mortals." Michael rose from his throne and came to stand at the peak of the highest step, looking down at Cam. "Turn."

Obeying, Cam turned around one-hundred and eighty degrees so that he faced away from the Council, looking back across the hall at the closed doors. No escape now, no going back. This was it.

"I renounce you of your wings," Michael said, his voice bold and clear so that it echoed through the cavernous spacing of the hall.

"I renounce you of your wings," Raphael repeated, his words carrying their usual bite, and Cam could hear the glee he found in saying them.

Silence followed as the third and final member of the leaders hesitated, and then he spoke. "I renounce you of your wings," Gabriel said quietly, his reluctance not changing the fact that he had still spoken the words.

With the final confirmation spoken, Cam could feel the change. The sensation of intense and comforting heat spread across his back like usual, but this time, instead of engulfing and surrounding him, the heat started to turn. An icy sensation with which he was unfamiliar crept through his muscles, sliding up his spine and spreading out across his sides. It felt odd and slightly uncomfortable for Cam had never experienced cold before, and he could not help but find it an unpleasant feeling.

The ice spread over the entirety of his back, and then, with no showy bang or colourful flourish, it simply faded, leaving him with a sense of discontented anti-climax. There was no announcement of "you no longer have wings" or a physical scar left behind, and yet he could feel their absence, buried somewhere deep inside him, squirming in the pit of his stomach.

"Elijah will return you to the mortal girl. She will, of course, have to have her memory of your teleportation erased from her mind," Michael informed him, taking on a factual, business-like manner now that it was all over.

"Will she still remember-?"

"She will still remember the kiss, yes," Michael said, cutting across him. Then, in a moment of sentimentality, he gave a small, sad smile. "Let us just hope that it is worth it."

"It is," Cam replied sincerely, and even with the unsettling absence of his wings, he knew that it was still true. Nixie was still worth it.

"You will find that your own memories of this place fade with time too, as you adjust to mortal life," Michael continued, stepping backwards and reclining down into his throne. "There will come a day when you no longer remember your life here. You will become mortal in both mind and body. Until then, we ask that you do not speak of this place to anyone in the human world. Further action will be taken if you do."

"We don't want to have to clean up any more of your mess," Raphael hissed from the side, glowering down at Cam with just as much contempt as before.

"Elijah is waiting for you at the door," Michael said, ignoring the other Archangel's comment. "You are now free to leave."

After bowing respectfully to his seniors one last time, Cam straightened and turned, proceeding back down to the doors that led to the way out. Just as he reached them, Gabriel spoke out from back upon the steps, "Good luck Cam. I hope, for your sakes, that you are right. I hope that your human girl is worth it."

Without speaking, Cam simply gave a small nod of his head in acknowledgement of Gabriel's words, and then put his fingers to the door handle. It was done.

The sun was just starting to set when Cam returned to earth, the skies ever so slightly misted with clouds so that the diffracted sunlight cast a stunning scatter of colour across the horizon. He opened his eyes to see the warm hues of yellow and red, and then closed them again. He wiggled his toes, bare-footed, and felt damp sand beneath his feet. A gentle breeze blew across his face and the salt stung his skin, and for the first time in forever he finally _felt _everything. For the first time in his life, he was real.

Exhaling slowly, he allowed himself a few more moments simply to soak up the bizarre sensation of being alive, before he then reopened his eyes. With no hurry, he glanced around, trying to work out where he was.

He realised quickly where he'd been transported to, but he didn't care about that. What he cared about was the girl sat cross-legged by the shoreline, her dark hair blowing gently around her head in the tame breeze, her head turned so that she sat gazing out into the sunset.

Stumbling at first, feeling somehow out of touch with his own body, Cam sprinted down across the sand towards her. He felt the air rush through his lungs, and his muscles hummed with the need for oxygen. All these new, fantastic, wonderful sensations meant nothing, however, when compared to the girl waiting at the shoreline of their beach. The girl waiting for him.

She jumped when he touched a hand to her shoulder, and looked around with wide, disorientated eyes. When she spotted him, it took her a moment to process what she was seeing. Before she could get a word out, however, Cam had fallen to his knees beside her and he took her face in his hands. Feeling her skin beneath him, warm and soft and perfect, he grinned only for a moment before leaning in, kissing her deeply and heavily on the lips.

All the world's new sensations paled in comparison to the feeling of kissing Nixie as a human now. It was a moment unparalleled, coloured by rushes of hormones, the hitching of his breath, and the racing of his pulse. Tentatively, she brushed her fingers across his jaw, and her touch felt like fire, incredibly new and incredibly worth it.

"Cam," Nixie gasped once he'd finally released her mouth, her lips chapped and pink, her cheeks flushed. "Cam, where have you been? I've been waiting here all week, thinking that you'd just vanished, or that you were washed up dead somewhere," she rambled breathlessly, her annoyance not amounting to any real anger. Cam started mentally at the mention of a week having passed, but then he supposed angels and humans had always experienced time differently. Never again now though- they would experience the world together through equal eyes.

She met his gaze, their faces only centimetres apart, and her expression softened. "You know, it's pretty demoralising to kiss a guy and then find out that he appears to have left the country. Not what I would call a positive response."

"Nixie, I'm sorry for leaving," Cam apologised, pulling her closer and pressing a kiss to her cheek. It felt so unbelievably good to have her there in his arms, her warmth soothing. He could feel her breathing in the gentle rise and fall in her chest pressing against him, and something about that fact seemed so incredibly _human _that he couldn't help laughing breathlessly like a madman. "I didn't want to, but I had to."

She scowled sceptically at him, and he knew that he owed her an explanation, even if he could never give her the real one. Sighing, he schooled his expression into a more serious one and addressed her frankly. "You remember that thing I mentioned, about how I'd lost something?" He said, tucking a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear.

"Yeah…" Nixie said slowly, unsure of the connection.

"Well, I just had to go and take care of it. It's all sorted now though, and I never have to leave again," Cam promised her, smiling at how perfect that promise sounded.

"Did you find what you'd lost?" Nixie asked him, still slightly confused by his ambiguity as a small frown lined her brow and she chewed her bottom lip.

"No," Cam confessed, grimacing. "No, I didn't. But I decided I didn't need it anymore, that I'd found something better."

"Oh yeah?" Nixie said. "What?"

Came paused for a moment, deliberating on what answer to give, before he smirked mischievously. "You," Cam said, his voice teasing so that any sane person could take it as a joke. Nixie naturally did, grinning and punching his arm playfully.

"You're so full of it," she scolded him through a smile, shaking her head before looking back at him, sobering. "So, you promise you're never going to suddenly disappear again?"

"I promise," Cam said, touching his palm to her cheek gently, lightly running the tip of his thumb across her cheekbone. "I'm going to stay right here with you."

"Hm. I like the sound of that," Nixie said, leaning into his touch and then catching his hand with her own.

They fell quiet for a moment, the sound of the rolling sea distant but reassuring, and the missed time didn't seem to matter anymore. All Cam could really feel was that they were back together, and that here, on this secluded beach with the brazen mermaid mortal, was where he truly belonged.

"Hey, Cam?" Nixie said, breaking the silence out of choice rather than because it was growing awkward.  
"Yeah?"

"I love you," she said, her eyes fixed upon his, her words and manner open and honest. It was quite possibly his favourite side to her, and moving in a little closer, Cam hovered just above her lips, pausing to speak before kissing her.

"I love you too, Nixie, no matter what you are. Tail or no tail. Human or not – I love you."


	10. Amnesia - Bromance - CamZac - T

**A/N: Sorry for the time lapse, I've been away on a residential and my laptop refused to connect to the wifi there so I've been stranded away from the internet. Somehow I survived. This was originally going to be CamxZac, but in the end I had the need for friendship fluff, so there is a distinct lack of romance. Hope you enjoy, and sorry again for vanishing :)**

**Prompt**: Amnesia (Taken from **The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts**)

**Setting**: Canon, set two months after Cam's Betrayal.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam and Zac Bromance/Friendship.

**Warnings**: Angst, hurt/comfort, friendship feels and questionable characterisation. F and S words used once or twice towards the end.

**Recommended Listening**: Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

* * *

**Amnesia**

Cam hadn't talked to any of the others in just over two months. Or, more accurately, they hadn't talked to him, despite his best efforts to win back their trust. The problem was, he couldn't see very many good reasons as to why he deserved it.

That didn't matter now though. He didn't care that the mermaids glared at him like he was the scum of the earth if he so much as dared looked at them, or that Zac, his best friend in the whole world, was no longer speaking to him. When he heard about the 'accident' he was over at Ms. Santos's house in an instant.

"Cam," his head teacher greeted him when she opened the front door to find him stood there, forgetting to hate him in her momentary surprise. When she remembered herself, however, she did not glare at him. Instead her brow creased and she looked at him with sympathetic eyes. "You heard about Zac."

"Yes," Cam said quickly, his heart racing in his chest as he panted, having sprinted over.

"Come in," Ms. Santos said gently, standing aside to let him in. He followed her lead, diving into the house and running past her, up the stairs without saying a word. He was finding it hard to string together coherent sentences, his mind still in a state of shock. When his mother had come off of the phone with Dr. Blakely and told him the news, everything had gone blank. All he'd known was he had to do something, had to be there. He had to help.

It was more than that though. If he'd wanted solely to help, he would have rushed to Zac's apartment, wanting to see him and only him. He wasn't being a valiant hero. He was angry.

He found Sirena, Nixie and Lyla all sat together on the sitting room's couch, their knees drawn together, their heads bowed. By the look of it, Ms. Santos had gathered them all to talk to them, but when Cam came into the room their mournful demeanours vanished and they stiffened like dogs catching a scent.

"Girls, please be nice to Cam. He's had a friend get hurt too," Ms. Santos instructed softly, arriving in the doorway seconds later. Lyla and Sirena's shoulders slumped, and what contempt they felt for Cam appeared to be gone, but Nixie remained taut, her gaze piercing Cam.

"Zac's not his friend. He has no right to be here," she said coldly. In the past, the venom in her tone might have wounded Cam, but now it failed to illicit even the slightest sense of hurt.

"Nixie, that's enough," Ms. Santos said sternly, walking round from behind Cam and standing between the two parties. "I know that we've all had our differences, but in light of recent events I fear we cannot afford to remain enemies. Zac's welfare has to be the top priority." She spoke and held herself with the infallible authority that she had trained and honed as a headmistress, but then the mask faltered and she wrapped her arms across her chest, hugging herself, her face distant and sad. "Not only that, but I don't think we have any right to hold grudges. We no longer possess the right to judge."

Finally, Cam found coherency and remembered why he'd come. "What did you do to him?" He demanded, his voice low and dangerous. He looked to Ms. Santos instead of the girls, partially because he held her responsible, partially because he wasn't sure he could control his temper if he looked at the girls. After how they'd treated him, he welcomed the opportunity to hurt them, be it verbally or physically. Zac's so-called 'accident' might push him over the edge.

"We thought we'd found a way to help him, to take away his tail. With Evie breaking up with him because of it, and his grades crippling with all the stress it's caused, Zac's been desperate to lose it. Before you accuse us of forcing him Cam, I can promise you that he more than wanted it. In fact, it was Zac who went away and did the proper research and found out how we could do it. It was his idea." She noticed his rising colour and nodded apologetically. "But I agree, it was our responsibility. We should have known better and stopped him.

"Zac found out that it was possible for the Moon Pool to take away whatever powers it bestowed upon people. Apparently the same incident occurred a few years ago with a girl named Charlotte. She published her story all over the Internet, but naturally she was dismissed as insane. Zac, however, read through her blog anyway and found that she was telling the truth; she knew everything. She'd once had powers, and they had been taken from her by the Moon Pool on the night of the full moon."

"You're telling me that you took advice from the Internet?" Cam questioned flatly in deadpan. "You decided to expose Zac to what you consider an incredibly powerful magical pool on the night that it is most dangerous because _the Internet told you to_?"

"As I said before Cam, it was Zac's idea. But I did some extra research and found that the concept had grounding."

Silent for a moment, Cam looked between her and the girls, all of who had averted their eyes to the floor, even Nixie. "Did you know?" He asked, his gaze lingering on Nixie for a second before he returned it to Ms. Santos. "Did you know what it would do to him?"

"I knew that it was a possibility," Ms. Santos admitted guiltily, hunching her shoulders over as she hugged herself more tightly. "I read a passage that briefly mentioned memory loss, but I presumed that it meant only those memories that involved mermaids and mermanhood. At worst, I thought it might erase his mind only from the point at which he became a merman and onwards. I never thought-"

"What, that he'd forget everything? That he wouldn't even know who he was?" Cam snapped, cutting her off.

Silence. Ms. Santos looked at the floor, the girls looked at the floor. Cam looked past them and wanted to hit something. "I'm sorry Cam. I should have realised, or done something. Truly, I'm sorry for not stopping him," Ms. Santos apologised, and Cam hated how sincere she sounded. He wanted them to all have been planning this from the start, to be rotten to the core. He wanted to be furious at them. Now all he could feel was a desperate hollowness. Why did nothing ever seem to work out like it should?

"You should go to him Cam," Ms. Santos said gently, stepping forward cautiously so as not to trigger his temper. "The doctors have said that his memory might not be gone entirely, just lying dormant. They-"

"I know. That's why they sent him home. They think that familiar things may trigger his memory and bring everything rushing back, as if nothing ever happened, in one big glorious miracle. But that's not ever really going to happen, is it? That's just what they say when-" he found that he couldn't finish without his voice cracking, and so he just swallowed and scowled, angry at himself as well now.

"Maybe it won't. But all we can do now is try and help, Cam," Ms. Santos said.

She reached forward a tentative hand and caught his elbow, squeezing it to try and comfort him. The girls were all looking at him now, their faces pitiful, waiting for salvation. He didn't know if they wanted a miracle or for him to forgive them, but either way he hated them for it. After everything they'd done to him and what they'd made of his life, how could they expect him to save them?

Ms. Santos gave his arm another quick squeeze, and he looked at her and knew he had to at least try. It wasn't for them though. He had to go there for Zac.

When Cam arrived, there were no obvious indicators that something had changed. Zac's apartment was the same as ever, and inside through the open blinds Cam could see a soft, gentle light aglow. Evening had set in, darkening the sky and turning the horizon into a jagged silhouette, the air pleasantly cold. It would have been a peaceful scene were Zac not waiting inside with no clue as to who he or anyone else was.

Climbing the steps to the porch, Cam knocked hesitantly at the door. Back before Cam's big betrayal, Zac would have just yelled for him to come in. Now, there was no verbal reply, although from behind the door Cam could hear someone shuffling about. A couple of seconds later the door was opened and there stood Zac, his ex-best friend who yesterday had informed him frostily that he hated his guts.

His ex-best friend who hated his guts looked back at him with a glazed, distant expression, his brow creasing into slight frown as he studied Cam's face. He was dressed in a hoodie and sweats, his hair untamed and dark circles ringed his eyes. "Do I know you?" Zac asked slowly, his hand gripping the door tightly as he half-hid behind it. There was a complete lack of recognition in his expression, and his usual boyish confidence had dissolved, his shoulders curled over and his face pale.

"Yeah," Cam said, instantly feeling a hundred times more awkward. It was easier for Zac to hate him than for him to not recognise him at all. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Zac said, turning around and wandering back into his apartment.

With a sorry, lonesome kind of shuffle rather like that of a kicked dog, Zac retreated back to his bed and sat down on the side of it. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself, glancing around uncertainly and occasionally risking looking at Cam. Cam's disconcertion must have shown on his expression, for Zac flushed scarlet upon looking at him and he fidgeted awkwardly.

"How… How do I know you?" Zac asked him in a small voice, wringing his hands together in a nervous cycle. Cam, who was still stood in the doorway, had no idea how to deal with him when he was like this. Oddly enough he felt guiltier now than when Zac had actively despised him, Zac's forlorn, lost expression meaning that Cam could no longer retain his old anger at him.

Shutting the door behind him, Cam paced over to Zac's bed and then sat down next to him, keeping a careful distance between them. "We were best friends," Cam said with a sigh, avoiding looking over at him.

"We were?" Zac asked, and Cam could hear the guilt in his voice. He couldn't even begin to imagine what forgetting everyone he knew would be like; if he had any friends left, he imagined he'd feel guilty about forgetting them completely too.

"Yeah, but I kind of screwed you over," Cam said quickly, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. "You pretty much hate me now."

"I do?" Zac asked, sounding genuinely surprised as he glanced over at him.

"Yeah. You've barely said two words to me in two months," Cam said, with no clue as to why he was telling him this. "After I sort of shamelessly betrayed you."

"Huh."

"Do you remember anything?" Cam asked awkwardly after a long pause of silence, during which Zac did little else than stare blankly at the opposite wall.

"Not really," Zac said with a shrug, glancing over to regard him. "I remember words and what they mean, but nothing that's ever happened to me, or who anyone is. Doctor Blakely," he stopped and corrected himself, "my dad, he said I have something called retrograde amnesia."

"Do they think you're ever going to get your memory back?"

"They said that something might trigger it and I'll get it all back at once, or it might come back in bits and pieces. Or I won't get it back at all. I'm getting a scan tomorrow," Zac said flatly, showing little faith in the idea. "At the moment though I don't remember much."

Biting back on his tongue, Cam decided that making a joke at that point might be a bad idea and so said nothing. How were you supposed to comfort someone who may well have lost all his memories forever? "No sudden flashes yet then?"

"Not really. Sometimes I kind of remember feelings. With my parents, it sometimes feels like I know them. Doctor- my dad, he said that it's because my _semantic memory _is still in tact, or something like that. It's why I can remember words and such."

"Cool," Cam said, having zoned out the second Zac brought out the technical doctor words. They lapsed back into silence, Cam nodding to himself in an attempt to feel less uncomfortable. This wasn't helped much by Zac watching him, a puzzled frown back on his face.

"See, that's why I don't think I hate you. I don't _feel _like I do," Zac said quietly, still studying Cam, searching for whatever he'd lost.

"You remember me?" Cam asked, his chest tightening with a mix of hope and fear.

"Nothing specific. It's just a feeling, like I said. Sounds a bit wet I know," Zac said with a crooked smirk. "I know you said that I'm supposedly mad at you, but I don't remember that." He grinned and for a second Cam recognised his ex-best friend. "I guess we used to be pretty good friends. That's all I remember, or feel anyway."

"I don't really deserve that," Cam said sheepishly, matching his grin as best as he could, "but thanks."

"Thanks for coming over," Zac said, "the doctors said that familiar faces ought to help and that they've invited several people over. You're the first one that's come over, save for my parents and some girl called Evie who said that she was my ex-girlfriend. So far it seems the only people I'm close to are all ex-somethings. Is there anyone I haven't pissed off, or who I'm not pissed at?"

"There are these three girls, but I think they're keeping away for now. They feel bad about what happened," Can explained with an awkward shrug, not feeling up to dumping the mermaids in it. He'd make them feel guilty on Zac's behalf; the merman probably had enough on his plate at that moment.

On that thought, Cam remembered why this had all happened and glanced around. Stepping off of the bed, he grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table and turned back to Zac. "This will seem weird, but I just need to check something, okay?"

"Okay?" Zac said unsurely, his gaze switching from the glass to Cam's face and back.

Dipping his fingers in the water, Cam flicked his ex-best friend with a couple of droplets and waited as he sputtered. Five seconds passed, then ten. A minute later and still nothing, Zac was sat there with perfectly human legs and water spattered across his face and dripping from his eyelashes looking somewhat shell-shocked.

"What was that for?" Zac demanded incredulously, pawing at his face with his T-shirt to wipe away the moisture.

"Nothing. Sorry. It makes sense, I promise," Cam dismissed him hurriedly, setting the glass back down and wiping his hands on his shorts.

"You mean, it would if I had my memories," Zac said darkly, his eyes retreating back down to staring at the floor.

"Am I the same?" Zac said suddenly, after a tense pause. He looked up at Cam, wide-eyed and soulful, and once again Cam felt a wave of panicking guilt. "Am I the same as I was before? I mean, minus the memories, obviously. Am I still… me?"

"Sure," Cam said on automatic, only because Zac looked so damn heartbroken. He could tell from how Zac's expression only worsened, however, that he hadn't done a very good job at being reassuring. "You're still you Zac. You'll get your memories back soon, I'm sure. You'll hate me again once you do, but until then I can be here for you. If you need me."

"Told you we must have been good friends," Zac said with a meek smile, his moment of terror seemingly averted. "Thanks, for coming here and offering to do this."

"No problem. It's nice to have a change from you hating my guts. It's also unusual for you to care much whenever I stick up for you; before you just kind of took it for granted. No offense, but you'd best know now that you could and can be an asshole."

"Glad my friends think so highly of me," Zac muttered, although he was still smiling.

"Ex-friend, remember," Cam countered, and together they snickered like best friends reunited. It didn't seem to matter that one of them didn't remember the other.

"Listen," Cam said, resting his elbows upon his legs as he leant forward, "I know that I'm supposed to be here helping you figure out how to regain your memories, and don't get me wrong, that's pretty important stuff. But right now it's late and I imagine you've had a pretty shitty day. You want to get pissed and play video games instead?"

"I might have lost all my memories, but even I know that is an offer I shouldn't turn down," Zac said with a wistful smile. "I have some beers in the fridge."

Playing fetch, Cam went and retrieved the aforementioned alcohol and handed Zac a can whilst popping the tab on his. "You know, this feels familiar," Zac said absently as Cam booted up the x-box and slid in the disc.

"See, I am helping with your memory loss. Who knows, maybe the alcohol will help loosen up any repressed memories lurking beneath the surface."

"Or we might just get pissed and I can stop worrying about the fact that I don't know who I am anymore for a night," Zac suggested casually as he took the controller Cam handed him and rotated around upon the bed to face the television.

"That sounds good too."

Sitting himself down beside Zac and crossing his legs, Cam set up a game of multiplayer FIFA, wedging the open beer can in his lap to secure it. "I just realised I never told you my name," Cam said as the loading screen flashed across the screen, feeling bizarrely alienated to have to do such a thing after knowing Zac for so many years.

"Cam," Zac answered distractedly as he inspected the controller, getting a feel for the buttons. "You know, I think I remember how to use this thing. 'A' is pass right?"

"Yeah," Cam said numbly, staring over at him. Zac didn't seem to realise what he'd done, or that he'd remembered Cam's name, innocently toying with the multicoloured buttons, a stubborn scowl lining his face as he did so.

"You know what Zac, I reckon you're going to be alright. Just promise me you won't hate me when it all comes rushing back," Cam said, his heart feeling oddly large in his chest, half warm, half cold. He was glad for his friend, but this was the first time he'd had a proper conversation with Zac in months, or anyone else for that matter. He didn't want to lose what he'd only just gotten back.

"I promise," Zac said, raising his beer can. Cam gently knocked his own can against it, and they drank in unison. "Just promise me you won't kick my amnesiac-ass until I've worked out how to make the players move."

"I make no promises when it comes to war," Cam said, and with a chuckle from Zac they broke into the game as if time had been rewound two months and all was right again.

Cam didn't know what was going to happen from now on, or what Zac would remember, but what he did know was that he was the happiest he had been in months. That, and he had his best friend back. It seemed that the world was pretty fucked up at times, but at least in that moment, it was good.


	11. Early Mornings - CamxZac - T

**Prompt**: Taken from the Tumblr named '**OTP Prompts**'. Prompt was:

'Imagine your OTP getting dressed in the morning, Person A however is feeling a bit playful and decides to hold a piece of Person B's clothing hostage so Person B has to try and get it back'

**Setting**: Set before Zac ever grew a tail, back when he and Cam were best friends and early morning swimming practice was the worst of their concerns. Pre-Canon and Pre-ZacEvie.

**Rating**: T

**Pairings**: Cam x Zac

**Warnings**: Told you I'd finally manage to write some actual CamZac fluff someday. Contains slash, swearing and sexual comedy. 'Mysterious objects' and 'reactions' are mentioned and also, Cam is a moody little bitch in the mornings. This fanfiction is definitely the child of my need for more Cam-appreciation.

**Recommended Listening**: Bewitched - Rufus Wainwright

* * *

**Early Mornings**

Cam was woken up by the alarming experience of being stepped on by Zac.

"Whoops. Sorry," Zac mumbled groggily as he hobbled off of Cam's stomach, moving over towards the chest of drawers that his room housed.

"_Watchit,_" Cam slurred, his words blurring together as his brain failed to separate them.

Not feeling like waking up quite yet, Cam pulled the pillow beneath his head down against his chest and hugged it protectively, crushing his face down into it. He screwed his eyes shut to block out the light and tried with as much early-morning effort as he could muster to ignore the sound of Zac stumbling around.

All chance of sleep was ruined, however, when Zac turned on his stereo. Cam didn't care that they had similar music tastes; the alternating guitar chords were disturbing his peace and quiet. With an entirely undignified groan, he forced his eyes open and glanced around blearily, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Zac was rummaging through his drawers, dressed solely in his underwear and socks -a sleeping habit Cam enjoyed openly mocking him about- as he mumbled along half-heartedly to the song lyrics. Cam had to admit that it was not a particularly unpleasant sight to awaken to. Zac was unmistakably well-built from all the swimming he did, and Cam was going through the experimental, questioning phase of his adolescence. In the dazed, careless mind-set of the morning, he forgot what he was annoyed about for a moment as he just watched the hypnotic cycle of Zac withdrawing and returning his clothes to and from his draws, his mind slowly catching up with his eyes.

When he realised that he was staring, he quickly shook himself out of the stupor and focused. Identifying Zac as the culprit of the unwelcome music, Cam grabbed a spare trainer lying under Zac's bed and lobbed it over at him. He was a surprisingly good shot considering the early hour and the fact that he was sprawled on the floor, hitting Zac right in the small of his back.

"The hell Cam?" Zac demanded grumpily as he turned to see what had hit him, finding Cam smirking smugly in return.

"The hell are you doing, Zac?" Cam responded without missing a beat, his tiredness amplifying the irritated whine in his tone. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Ten past eight in the morning," Zac said, "which means I am already ten minutes late for swimming practice."

Urgh. Swimming practice. Cam looked around for the second trainer to throw at Zac, but unfortunately Zac's disorganisation meant that the other half of the pair was missing. Muttering to himself about Zac's inadequacy, Cam hoisted himself up onto his elbows and glowered over at his friend. If looks could kill.

"I don't get it. Why do you invite me over for a sleepover when you have stupid _swimming practice_ in the morning?" Cam said sulkily, very nearly sounding like a spoilt tweenage brat. It required all his effort to stop himself from pouting.

"So you can help me find my clothes. All my shit seems to be in the wash at the moment. Can you grab my T-shirt from yesterday for me?" Zac replied without looking over at Cam, still rifling through his draws. Even from where Cam lay, it was obvious that Zac did have spare clothes tucked away, but one unexpected trait Cam knew that Zac possessed was his particularity about clothes. It wasn't that he had an especially eccentric or fashionable sense of style, it was simply that his attire had to be _right_. Whatever that entailed, only Zac could say, but it meant that he could be far more of a stereotypical teenage girl than the real ones, spending ages deliberating over the right choice. It was something Cam would never understand, but had adjusted to.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," Cam muttered, rolling over onto his side to search under the bed more effectively for the rogue shirt. "It's the blue one, right?"

"With stripes, yeah."

Rummaging around through all the crap Zac kept stuffed away beneath his bed, Cam eventually happened upon the T-shirt. It lay in a miserable, crumpled pile beside the bedside table, quickly snatched up by a victorious grab from Cam. "Got it," he announced, returning out from under the bed to hold the T-shirt proudly in the air.

"Great. Now I just need to find my trousers, and maybe I won't miss _all_ of class," Zac said, leaving the draws behind to stalk around the room, searching for the trousers in question.

"What, not even a thank you?" Cam demanded, and the hurt in his voice sounded genuine. He was more sensitive than normal in the mornings.

"Piss off Cam," Zac dismissed him, diving down the back of the sofa in the hope of clothing.

"Well, if you're going to be like that then," Cam said huffily, shoving the T-shirt underneath him and lying down upon it, trapping it. "You can damn well turn up to class shirtless."

"Cam, stop being an idiot," Zac said with an exasperated eye roll and shake of his head, clearly not taking Cam's threat seriously.

"No, I mean it. You wake me up at some ungodly hour to be your clothes bitch, and not one word of appreciation. I'm going on strike," Cam said with as much grandeur as he could muster, crossing his arms firmly over his chest.

Locating his trousers down the back of the television, Zac struggled into them before finally turning to address Cam. "Okay, I get it. Thank you so much for all your inhumanly hard work, Cam. Now, will you please give me my shirt back?"

"No," Cam said simply, tossing his hair back as much as was possible whilst lying down. "I don't think you appreciate me enough to deserve it."

Naming Cam a string of curse words under his breath, Zac drew up beside him, looking down at his best friend. "I'm serious now. Last warning before I acquire it through sheer force."

"I'd like to see you try," Cam snipped back, the challenge sounding remarkably convincing. Sure he knew that Zac could physically outmatch him, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to put up a fight. If Zac missed his swimming lesson because of him then he'd get what he deserved.

"You're in for it now," Zac said, the threat in his voice marginalised by the grin he broke into. Dropping down to the floor, Zac clambered onto Cam without a second of warning, completely at ease with it. With a professional briskness, his hands went to Cam's side and started trying to grab hold of the shirt, fishing around under Cam's back.

"Zac, get off of me you rapist," Cam protested, forgetting to scowl as he started grinning, trying to shove Zac off of him.

"You're the one who seems to want me shirtless," Zac pointed out, unrelenting as he attempted to pry Cam off from the floor.

"You got me Zac. This is all a part of my nefarious plan to get you naked. Next thing you know, I'll have acquired your trousers too, and good luck attending swimming practice like that without getting arrested," Cam quipped back, his speech fragmented as he periodically paused to fight back against Zac's grip on him.

"So that's why you like attending my swimming classes, huh? Then again, I suppose who could resist me when I'm swimming?" Zac said through his teeth as he successfully caught a hold on the material, now faced with the task of tugging it out from underneath Cam's torso.

"Only the ones at a sensible hour, remember," Cam retorted in desperation as he went about using his feet to push Zac off of him.

Pulling the T-shirt free from underneath the blonde, Zac swiftly tugged it down over his head, pushing his arms through the sleeves, and then grinned down triumphantly at the defeated Cam. "I win again."

"Bastard," Cam muttered, fidgeting awkwardly. Having Zac straddling his middle felt somewhat… intimate, and even at the early hour he could feel himself having what his mother liked to refer to as a 'reaction'.

"You know, you can stop inviting me around if this is all you're going to have me do. I could spend my Saturdays sleeping in, like any normal teenager should," Cam said grumpily, averting his eyes from Zac's face to a spot on the ceiling. The usual mantra of _he's your best friend, he's your best friend,_ played through his head as he tried to ignore the weight of Zac's contact.

"Aw come on, last night was fun," Zac said, still sat there perfectly calmly as though straddling your best friend was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe it was, providing there were no other feelings attached. _He's your best friend, he's your best friend_. "If you hadn't come over we never would have discovered how long pizza could stick to the ceiling for."

"Waste of a good pizza," Cam muttered bitterly, although any real fight had left him. It was hard to stay angry at someone who was the ignorant subject of his experimental teenage sexuality. 'It's just a phase,' his mother had assured him, without meaning to sound homophobic or cruel. Still, it made what he was feeling then only all the more unsettling.

"You can be so insecure sometimes," Zac said, shaking his head and shifting his weight, still not leaving his position on top of Cam. "I invited you over because I wanted to hang out. Until dad phoned, I'd completely forgotten about swimming."

"Doctor Blakely phoned?" Cam asked, completely unable to remember that part.

"Yeah, right about when you were drooling on my pillow, snoring," Zac said flatly, although he did so with a smile. Cam gave no reply, sniffing haughtily. He did _not_ snore.

"So, am I forgiven?" Zac asked, looking down and meeting Cam's gaze. Cam quickly looked away, concerned that eye contact would only encourage his 'reaction'.

"Yeah, I guess so," he answered with a shrug that was meant to seem disinterested. Zac seemed to interpret it as resentment, however, for he groaned in frustration.

"Great, now you're going to be a total drama queen all week."

"Hey, I'm proud of my ability to hold a grudge you know," Cam retorted, trying to smile whilst keeping the flush out of his cheeks. If Zac would just _get off _of him, maybe he could think a little more coherently.

Scowling down at Cam, not looking impressed, Zac deliberated for a moment before choosing his response. "You're pissed at me because you think I don't appreciate you enough, right?" Zac asked.

"Your cruel ways have left me jaded and bitter," Cam replied melodramatically, fidgeting as he tried to move Zac's placement to an area that was slightly less personal.

"Well then, that's easily solved."

Placing a hand squarely in the centre of Cam's chest, keeping him pressed firmly down against the floor, Zac leaned forward. Cam was convinced he must be moving to do _anything_ but what he was imagining, and yet Zac then brought their faces intimately close together. He waited for a moment, giving Cam long enough to call it off but not lingering so much as to make it awkward, and then with a gentleness that seemed uncharacteristic of someone so strong, he pressed his lips down upon Cam's, kissing him softly.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, Zac's lips against Cam's, before Zac pulled back, straightening. Its brevity mattered not, however, for all Cam could feel were emotional fireworks setting off left right and centre in his chest as his heart felt as if it was failing. Only the rush of hormones that had flooded his bloodstream were pining for it to be longer, causing Cam's lips to follow after Zac's retreating ones for a fraction of a second, ghosting after the lost kiss.

Zac opened his mouth to speak, and then decided against it. Instead, he leant back down again, stole another quick kiss from Cam, and then rolled off of him to sit beside him on the floor.

For all the times Cam had planned and imagined it –the kiss, _the_ kiss-, he still found himself speechless afterwards, with absolutely no idea of what to say. His head was swimming, his cheeks burning up with no chance of his being able to stop them, and his lips felt pleasantly hypersensitive, humming, if lips could even do such a thing. "Well," he said, his own surprise showing in his voice, "that was rather forward."

"So was the mysterious object pressing into my leg," Zac replied coolly. If the kiss had dazzled -yes, dazzled felt appropriate to Cam here- him as much as it had Cam, he certainly wasn't showing it, calm and composed as he looked back at his best friend. The one he'd just kissed.

His face burning hotter, Cam bit down on his lower lip and tried to cover up his embarrassment. It didn't help that the 'mysterious object' was still ever so slightly noticeable.

"Well, I've got swimming to get to," Zac said, breaking the awkward silence as he stood, brushing down his rumpled clothing.

"So you're the love 'em and leave 'em type then?" Cam joked, laughing nervously as he watched Zac stand.

"You got me," Zac said, grinning, and that grin dispelled any fear Cam had about their friendship being eternally ruined and Zac hating him forever. "Or, at least I am until after I've been lectured by my swimming coach. After that, I'm kind of hoping that you'll still be here."

"Oh, well, I sort of had a busy morning of sleeping planned, but I suppose I could fit you in somewhere," Cam said, rolling over onto his front and hugging the pillow again, this time out of barely containable joy. He had to keep it together in front of Zac though, for his reputations sake if nothing else.

"I'm touched," Zac said, laughing as well now.

He paused for a moment, glancing over at the door that he was supposed to have left through thirty minutes ago, before turning back to Cam. Crouching down, he ducked forward, caught Cam's jaw and kissed him one last time. "You've no idea how long I've wanted to do that for," he said as their lips parted, his smile even more complimentary than his words.

"Hey, go get lectured. I didn't retrieve that shirt for nothing you know," Cam said, leaning closer and lightly brushing their noses together, resisting the urge to beg Zac to stay instead.

"I suppose I wouldn't want you getting in a sulk again, not after all your hard work," Zac said quietly.

Straightening out of his crouch, he grabbed his swim bag from beside the bed and then walked over to the door, lingering at it to glance back at Cam. "I'll see you after swimming," he called, his eyes wandering over the length of Cam and back before resting on his face.

"I shall await your return with baited breath my darling," Cam drawled back, stretching himself out and tugging the pillow closer. "Now stop procrastinating and go get shouted at."

Rolling his eyes in resignation, Zac dawdled a few seconds longer before peeling himself away from the door, shutting it behind him with a soft click, leaving Cam alone in his apartment.

Given the privacy of solitude, Cam buried his face into the fabric of the pillow and released a small, high-pitched noise. He sounded like a total girl, but in all honesty he didn't care. The point was that Zac had kissed him and Cam imagined that he would continue in that fashion upon returning.

Rolling onto his back and collapsing with a blissful sigh, Cam looked up at the ceiling and gave it a crooked smile, grinning from ear to ear. "Totally worth getting stepped on for."


End file.
